The Covid-19 pandemic has had a severe impact on the economy and adds up to the deep changes that have emerged over the last few years, including the digital transformation, the change in consumption behaviour, the green transition, the desire for local sourcing, etc.
In view of this situation, it is now more important than ever to call on restructuring professionals to help you tackle these new challenges.
Our law firm’s skilled Restructuring team, experienced in working in emergency situations, will assist you with any distressed situations, whether in an amicable framework (mandat ad hoc, conciliation), or judicial proceedings such as safeguard (sauvegarde), receivership (redressement judiciaire) or winding-up (liquidation judiciaire).
The full-service nature of our range of restructuring solutions is a real advantage for our clients and a strong expression of our core values, enabling us to provide responsiveness and coordination to tackle the most complex issues.
Our Restructuring team handles all aspects of cases:
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| Industrial restructuring |
| Financial restructuring |
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| Total or partial takeover of businesses |
| Securing of the turnaround process (approval/homologation of the conciliation agreement, new money, trust) |
A dedicated Restructuring & Insolvency team
Our Restructuring team, led by Alexandre Bastos, is made up of lawyers dedicated to the issues faced by distressed companies, who work in close collaboration with our corporate, finance, real estate, tax and employment law teams in France and internationally, ensuring personalised project management and the set-up of bespoke task forces.
Turnaround is the goal, anticipation is the key.
Restructuring & Insolvency – solutions tailored to each situation
1. Mandat ad hoc and conciliation proceedings
With significant experience in dealing with large-scale cases, often conducted under the aegis of the French government’s Interministerial Committee for Industrial Restructuring (CIRI), our team knows how to implement amicable proceedings for the benefit of all its clients, as a framework for the company’s turnaround.
The most frequently encountered situations include:
- disposal of part of the business;
- renegotiation of debts;
- setting up of new financing;
- share deal with a new investor;
- implementation of disposals.
2. Safeguard, receivership and winding-up proceedings
Our team particularly operates:
- in the framework of business takeovers (equity investment, judicial takeover etc.);
- with management to build continuation plans;
- with creditors and co-contracting parties to preserve their rights.
So, whether you are:
- a company facing difficulties seeking to implement the most appropriate framework for the required rescue and to negotiate with your partners;
- a buyer, on the lookout for a growth operation in an amicable or judicial framework, such as a disposal plan; or
- a stakeholder impacted by the company’s failure (particularly shareholders, co-contractors, lenders, financial institutions);
our team will know how to build the most suitable strategy with you.
Specialists ready to assist in a restructuring & insolvency framework
Corporate/Mergers & Acquisitions
The Corporate/Mergers & Acquisitions team includes lawyers experienced in coordinated intervention in cases involving distressed companies, alongside our Restructuring team.
It assists our clients with Corporate/Mergers & Acquisitions issues specific to this type of cases, such as:
- distressed M&A (investment, acquisition or disposal of companies in difficulty);
- reorganisation of groups of companies;
- assistance to management and shareholders with respect of potential liability issues;
- corporate aspects of debt restructuring;
- relations with the French Financial Market Authority (AMF).
Over the last few years, the team has been involved in numerous distressed M&A and corporate cases.
Financing law
Working alongside the Restructuring team, lawyers from the firm’s banking and financing law department have acquired significant experience in the distressed financing market.
We are therefore able to assist with all issues relating to financing companies in difficulty, both on behalf of lenders and borrowers, including:
- renegotiation of financial debts;
- new financing (new money, acquisition of companies in difficulty, etc.);
- setting up of security trusts and management trusts, covering all types of assets (financial securities, receivables, cash, trademarks, real estate);
- enforcement of security rights (trusts, pledges).
Real estate law
Our specialist lawyers are experts in the entire range of real estate law (commercial lease agreement, real estate acquisition, construction, urban planning and environmental law) and regularly work with the Restructuring team in a distressed framework.
From achieving a positioning in coveted locations to dealing with a partner in difficulty or renegotiating real estate financing, we will know how to assist you.
Employment law
A company’s salvation may depend on adjusting its workforce to create a salutary correlation between its activity and its costs. Our team can then support you in:
- determining restructuring costs;
- implementing restructuring measures and, in particular, any potential redundancies.
Our team advises on many companies’ restructuring projects requiring the implementation of a disposal plan. These include:
- determining the scope of the takeover and whether it is possible to take over all or some of the employees;
- identifying the consequences of the contemplated takeover for the buyer;
- supporting our client in the framework of discussions to be conducted with employee representatives.
Finally, emergency intervention can generate upheavals (launching of actions grounded on co-employment or on principles of civil liability) for which we can offer support to our clients, even before the relevant court where necessary.
Tax law
Because the impacts of tax law can be decisive for a distressed company, our specialist lawyers are experts in all tax rules (international, national, direct or indirect) and will know how to identify the tax levers which could be implemented in a business rescue context.
They can particularly heighten your awareness of tax implications of the various methods of debt restructuring and reorganisation or disposal of the business.
Quotes 2023
Legal 500 EMEA Insolvency | CMS Francis Lefebvre is retained to handle a range of restructuring and insolvency cases, acting for a diversity of stakeholders including shareholders, banks, debtors, commercial partners and investors. The practice manages small to mid-size cases, but also regularly earns mandates on larger matters. It is notably acting in major cases in the aviation, retail and industrial manufacturing fields. Alexandre Bastos heads the practice, which also includes counsel Guillaume Bouté. |
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