Restructuring

With teams based in the United States and Europe, Simpson Thacher’s Restructuring Practice provides clients around the globe with constructive, sustainable solutions and opportunities in connection with some of the world’s largest and most complex domestic and cross-border restructuring and insolvency situations, implemented out-of-court or through judicial proceedings. We pride ourselves on our cohesion as a cross-border group and collaboration with colleagues in the Firm’s best-in-class teams across all of its practices. 

The team advises key participants on all aspects of restructurings, including debtors, boards, independent committees, creditors, sponsors, debtor-in-possession (DIP) and exit financiers and other stakeholders. In particular, the team frequently represents sponsors and/or their portfolio companies in Europe and Asia, providing sustainable options in times of financial uncertainty. The team is highly skilled in guiding directors through their duties to deliver lasting solutions that protect value and reputations. We also counsel investors who may be considering opportunistic investments in stressed or distressed companies, including “363 bidders.” Our broad experience allows us to provide results-driven, strategic and nuanced advice with respect to all facets of a company’s capital structure.

Clients call upon Simpson Thacher’s global Restructuring Practice for aid in navigating and solving a host of challenging scenarios from start to finish. Our work includes:

• Liability management and other pre-emptive transactions;
• Covenant waivers and resets;
• Complex operational and/or financial restructuring transactions;
• In- and out-of-court debt-to-equity conversions and rescue investments;
• Asset divestments and deleveraging transactions; and
• Enforcements and/or formal insolvency or bankruptcy proceedings.

The Firm counsels clients on the full spectrum of challenges they may face, whether in the boardroom, around the negotiating table or in the courtroom. While we excel at crafting creative and consensual out-of-court solutions to the thorniest issues when circumstances demand, our litigators have the extensive experience and sophistication to successfully prosecute complex bankruptcy cases and to defend and promote our clients’ interests in contentious restructuring or insolvency proceedings.

Fundamental to our approach to company-side restructuring assignments is our focus on process, corporate governance, decision making and risk management. We approach these situations with a multidisciplinary legal team, led by our Restructuring partners, to advise seamlessly on credit, capital markets, M&A, litigation, fiduciary and other matters, and across borders, as the situation demands. We are recommended for our calm, clear and constructive advice in a crisis.

Recent highlights include advising:

• CWT Travel Holdings, Inc., a global business travel and meetings solutions provider with operations all over the world, in connection with its out-of-court recapitalization and restructuring transactions that resulted in equitizing $625 million of CWT’s senior notes and obtaining $150 million incremental liquidity to support the Company’s operations 
• Anagram Holdings, LLC, a leading manufacturer of foil balloons and inflated décor, in connection with its chapter 11 cases and the sale of substantially all of the Company’s assets
• Carrier Corporation in connection with the chapter 11 case of its subsidiary, Kidde-Fenwal Inc.
• FR BR Holdings, LLC, a subsidiary of First Reserve and a 50% JV Partner in Blue Racer Midstream, in connection with a comprehensive recapitalization transaction that strengthened and deleveraged FR BR’s balance sheet
• JPMorgan Chase, as administrative agent under Avianca Holdings S.A.’s DIP facility, named “Restructuring Deal of the Year” at the Latin Lawyer Awards 2022
• Pyxus International and certain subsidiaries in their international reorganization and prepackaged chapter 11 plan that eliminated or restructured over $2 billion of debt—one of Turnarounds & Workouts’ “Successful Restructurings of 2020”
• MatlinPatterson Global Opportunities Partners II in their chapter 11 proceedings to fully and finally resolve years of litigation in multiple foreign jurisdictions
• Joint administrators of certain companies within the Global Brands Group in connection with insolvency proceedings
• Joint provisional liquidators in the international restructuring of the Markel CATCo group
• The independent members of the Boards of Directors of PG&E Corporation and Pacific Gas and Electric Company throughout its 18-month chapter 11 bankruptcy process—one of Turnarounds & Workouts’ “Successful Restructurings of 2020”
• Arsenal Resources in two comprehensive financial restructurings in less than 12 months, comprising an out-of-court transaction and a pre-packaged chapter 11 reorganization

Members of the Restructuring Practice also play a key role in the Firm’s Special Situations Group, which is composed of lawyers from the Firm’s credit, capital markets, M&A, private funds, litigation and tax groups, who focus on executing complex and bespoke strategic credit, opportunistic equity and rescue finance transactions. Our multidisciplinary approach gives clients innovative and market-leading solutions while our global footprint allows the Special Situations team to work seamlessly around the world.