Transatlantic Restructuring Trends: Challenges And Opportunities In 2023

McDermott Will & Emery partners Aymen Mahmoud and Mark Fennessy in London, Felicia Perlman in Chicago and Jon Levine in New York examine how struggling companies fared in 2022 with reduced access to liquidity, and predict an increase in distressed M&A activity and out-of-court transactions as debtors look to deal with those liquidity issues in the year ahead.

It is not unreasonable to think that what became of 2022 was predictable based on prior markers: the roots for the economic slowdown in the second half of the year can be seen clearly as we look back to the pandemic. But those roots alone did not appear able to bring about the slowdown; they needed some help.

Covid-19 led to stimulus and other palliative measures that were often predicted to drive ination or the types of increased taxes that might negatively impact the economy. At the same time, the world cruised through an extended period of easing across various economies. While those features did not