A&O, SJ Berwin lead on new Icelandic insolvency
Allen & Overy (A&O) and SJ Berwin have taken lead roles as Icelandic retailer Baugur files for bankruptcy protection. A&O, a longstanding adviser of the company, is fielding a team led by London finance partner Andrew Bamber.SJ Berwin is advising Icelandic bank Landsbanki - which was in talks with Baugur about the potential restructuring of £1bn of debt - with a team led by London restructuring partner Mike Woollard, corporate partner David Parkes and finance partner Jen Yee Chan.
February 04, 2009 at 07:23 AM
2 minute read
Allen & Overy (A&O) and SJ Berwin have taken lead roles as Icelandic retailer Baugur files for bankruptcy protection.
A&O, a longstanding adviser of the company, is fielding a team led by London finance partner Andrew Bamber.
SJ Berwin is advising Icelandic bank Landsbanki – which was in talks with Baugur about the potential restructuring of £1bn of debt – with a team led by London restructuring partner Mike Woollard, corporate partner David Parkes and finance partner Jen Yee Chan.
Baugur – which has large stakes in a raft of UK retailers including Iceland, House of Fraser, French Connection, Debenhams and Hamleys – filed for bankruptcy protection after talks between Landsbanki and Baugur collapsed.
Landsbanki, along with two other Icelandic banks, collapsed late last year as the credit crunch continued to tighten its grip on financial institutions.
A raft of City firms picked up instructions advising on the administration of the UK arms of Iceland's banks, with Freshfields thought to have taken the lead role for the administrators Ernst & Young on the collapse of Heritable Bank – the Scottish subsidiary of Landsbanki.
The magic circle firm fielded a team led by head of restructuring and insolvency Ken Baird, restructuring and insolvency partner Nick Segal, dispute resolution partner Neil Golding and restructuring and insolvency counsel Anne Sharp.
PricewaterhouseCoopers is expected to be confirmed as Baugur's administrator with SJ Berwin understood to be advising the professional services firm.
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