A raft of City law firms have taken roles on the £3bn debt restructuring of troubled financial services group Cattles.

The complex restructuring has handed roles to six City law firms during two years of complex negotiations after a 2009 accounting scandal pushed the subprime lender to the brink of insolvency.

The restructuring, which was approved on Monday (28 February) by the High Court, saw Cattles successfully defend the right to treat its debt as structurally senior in court, as well as securing a ground-breaking agreement with the Financial Services Compensation Scheme to deal with Cattles' liabilities in respect of payment protection insurance policies.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer took the lead role for Cattles, while Allen & Overy (A&O) acted for a group of around 40-50 creditor banks led by a steering committee comprising Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC and Lloyds.

The Freshfields team was led by restructuring partner Adam Gallagher, dispute resolution partner Neil Golding and corporate partner Gareth Stephenson, while the A&O team was led by banking partners Trevor Borthwick, Michael Castle and Gordon Stewart, and litigation partner Andrew Denny.

The deal also handed roles to Norton Rose, Ashurst, Clifford Chance (CC), Herbert Smith and LG.

Norton Rose – led by City banking partner Farmida Bi – advised Bovess, a special company set up to purchase Cattles shares.

Ashurst acted for the bond holders with a team led by corporate restructuring partner Simon Baskerville, while Herbert Smith acted for the Financial Services Compensation Scheme with a team led by restructuring partner Laurence Elliott, and CC advised the private placement note holders, with restructuring partner Adrian Cohen taking the key role.

LG acted as conflict counsel to Cattles, with restructuring partners Nick Pike and Tom Withyman leading the firm's team.

A&O's Borthwick said that the deal had set a new benchmark for complexity of restructurings.

He told Legal Week: "A number of things set this deal apart and made it especially interesting. It was the most complex restructuring the legal counsel had seen, involving a number of new and exciting elements."