Restructuring and insolvency

Penningtons Manches Cooper’s multi-disciplinary team provides practical, commercial guidance for financial institutions, borrowers, companies, insolvency practitioners, directors, individuals, creditors, pension trustees, and other insolvency stakeholders. We offer expert advice on the full spectrum of restructuring, insolvency, bankruptcy, and recovery, ensuring comprehensive support for all your needs, from initial consultation to final resolution.

Restructuring solutions for long-term stability

Our team’s expertise covers all types of contentious and non-contentious restructurings and insolvencies. We actively apply the sector capabilities of our real estate, retail, travel, technology, healthcare, and pensions groups, enabling us to provide pragmatic market insight along with our specialist advice. This multidisciplinary approach ensures that we can address the unique challenges and opportunities within each sector, offering tailored solutions that are both effective and practical.

We work closely with financial institutions, directors, shareholders, insolvency practitioners, creditors, and other insolvency stakeholders to find workable solutions for clients seeking financial, trading, or operational restructuring and insolvency guidance. Our collaborative approach involves engaging with all relevant parties to understand their perspectives and objectives, resulting in advice which is aligned with their needs and goals.

Whilst overseeing the legal issues in a restructuring, we also focus on the needs of the business, its managers, owners, lenders, and employees. We work hard to deliver solutions that take into account the concern of all the organization’s key stakeholders. Our lawyers have established long-standing relationships with a variety of financial institutions, banks, and funds, which can assist both businesses and individuals in managing and surviving their problems. Having access to the necessary resources and support these relationships offer can substantially enhance the likelihood of a successful outcome.

In addition to supporting clients across the UK, our team frequently advises on a wide variety of cross-border transactions and recoveries. We have a particular focus on organisations in mainland Europe, the US, Asia-Pacific, India and Africa. Our international experience allows us to navigate different legal and regulatory environments, providing clients with comprehensive guidance on global restructuring and insolvency matters.

The team has shown an outstanding level of understanding and provided a high level of advice in a timely manner.

Our commitment to delivering a high-quality, client-focused service is at the core of our practice. We strive to build lasting partnerships, offering ongoing support and advice. Whether dealing with domestic or international issues, our team is dedicated to achieving the best possible outcomes for our clients, encouraging their long-term stability and success.

We continuously adapt our strategies to the evolving conditions of the market and regulatory changes, meaning that our clients receive the most current and effective insights. Our proactive approach and deep industry knowledge enable us to anticipate potential issues and address them promptly, safeguarding our clients’ interests at every stage of the restructuring and insolvency process.

How we help our clients

Debt and equity restructuring and refinancing

Reorganisations, schemes of arrangement, credit arrangements and CVAs

Accelerated M&A, pre-packs, administrations and voluntary or compulsory

Liquidations

Bankruptcy and individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs)

Partnership disputes and insolvency

Distressed debt trading and exits

Security priority and improvement

Debt and asset recovery, retention of title, trust and other creditor claims

Employee and pension issues

Landlord and tenant positions

Intellectual property rights

Key customer and supplier insolvency protection

Useful resources

Costs law services

The team rolled up their sleeves to deal with the client’s highly complex business systems and records. It has a leading expert partner who is supported by able and user-friendly associates.

They are very good. The partners and principals all acted well on behalf of the company, providing excellent advice and support. The team also genuinely tried hard to keep costs down.

Penningtons were amazing and very easy to deal with and communicated on an extremely easy to understand level… guided me through the whole experience in a professional manner.

I could not have asked for a better team… they strongly defended my corner at all times and managed to settle the matter as quickly as possible with the best possible financial outcome.

Recent work highlights

Restructuring advice for UK university

Representing the board of a university, providing urgent tailored advice to secure its survival, preventing it from being the first new model institution to fail and leave a multi-million-pound irrecoverable public deficit.

Biotech company restructuring

Advising the board of a biotech pre-revenue company on its solvency, ability to continue to trade, and key decisions as to funding and licensing which would impact the structure and future of the business.

Independent school refinancing

Supporting a school through an analysis of its various accounting practices, allowing it to pivot its business model and create the necessary capital expenditure provisions to upgrade school facilities.

National energy supply company restructuring

Advising on the restructuring of, and then assisting in rebuilding, the billing model of a national energy supply company in line with OfGem regulations at the height of the recent rise in UK energy prices.

International retail brand insolvency

Acting for the liquidators of an international brand retail chain with a mandate to disclaim 45 leases relating to its former stores across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

German travel company insolvency

Representing two UK subsidiaries of a wider international group of companies in the travel industry, after their parent, a German entity, had entered administration under the German insolvency regime.