Restructuring & insolvency

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 seasoned 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:

	Industrial restructuring		Financial restructuring
	Total or partial takeover of businesses		Securing of the rebound 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 objective, anticipation is the key.

Alexandre Bastos, partner

Guillaume Bouté,    associate

Clémentine Quintard,     associate

Léo Gironde,      associate

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 in difficulty 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 specific issues 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, creditors, 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 health 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 for the buyer of the contemplated takeover;
• 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, 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.

Any questions? Contact us