A raft of UK and US firms have been handed mandates after chemicals giant LyondellBasell launched Chapter 11 proceedings.

Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft has secured a leading role for the company in the US, with financial restructuring group heads Deryck Palmer and John Rapisardi at the helm. In the UK, LyondellBasell is being advised by Clifford Chance, with head of restructuring Mark Hyde taking the lead.

Meanwhile, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Ashurst, Simmons & Simmons, Bingham McCutchen, Latham & Watkins and Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy have all picked up instructions from creditors in the UK and the US.

When Lyondell Chemical, the US arm of LyondellBasell, filed for Chapter 11 protection in the US in January it chose not to include most of the group's European operations.

The firm took this route to avoid its European assets being liquidated, which would have a knock-on effect on the company's efforts to restructure in the US. However, this means that European bondholders are currently excluded from the proceedings as they are not creditors to the entity in Chapter 11.

The US company has also put in place a temporary restraining order on the European creditors to prevent them from enforcing their debt claims.

Ashurst head of restructuring Nick Angel said: "As a generalisation, an insolvency process almost anywhere in the world is to be avoided because it damages value. This is especially true where you have the prospect of different insolvency processes in different countries but it is less true for the US, where Chapter 11 processes are more readily accepted.

"What has happened here illustrates the difficulty in dealing with international groups because Chapter 11 will not be recognised throughout the world and there is no alternative worldwide process for insolvency."

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