Latham & Watkins‘ wide-ranging restructuring and insolvency practice particularly stands out for its significant expertise in distressed LBO workouts and debt-to-equity swaps, share deals, court-supervised asset deals and complex cross-border restructurings. The firm has recently played a prominent role in numerous high-profile financial restructurings, as well as major insolvency proceedings and distressed sales, with a stellar client roster that includes debtors, shareholders, private equity sponsors, hedge funds, bondholders and banks. Experienced practice head Alexandra Bigot has a strong skill set in out-of-court and cross-border restructurings, while other key figures in the team include Hervé Diogo Amengual, whose practice has a notable emphasis on litigation, and Thomas Doyen.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘Excellent team with Alexandra Bigot and Eeva Bernard. Alexandra is very experienced, understands deal economics and has a practical approach. ’
‘First-class player with the particularity of knowing the international players in London and the US very well.’
‘The team is accessible and very versatile. It knows how to make itself completely available to its clients despite its participation in most of the market's cases, sometimes all at the same time. The restructuring team can also rely on all the other expertise of the firm, in Paris and abroad, with a responsiveness and consistency in the (very high) quality of service that is extremely rare in the market. Latham is a go-to firm in Paris for restructuring, particularly for the most complex international situations.’
‘Thomas Doyen's appointment as a partner demonstrates the importance of knowing how to combine high-level financial practice with a real knowledge of the legal system. Certainly one of the best future players in the market, Thomas knows how to explain the most complex problems calmly and simply. He is as gifted in defining a simple and fair strategy as he is effective in his negotiation.’
‘Great French team with quality partners. Significant transversal offer that allows us to be very agile on large- and mid-cap cases. Team above the market.’
‘Thomas Doyen is very professional, with great technical and human qualities!’
Key clients
- Accorinvest Group SA
- Ad Hoc Committee of Casino TLB Lenders
- Alcentra
- Apollo Management Ltd
- Befesa
- Briarwood Chase Management
- Carlyle
- Farallon Capital
- HSBC
- iQera
Work highlights
- Advised the steering committee of TLB secured lenders (circa €1.5bn) in the €8bn financial restructuring of Casino, a French food retailer leader employing more than 50,000 employees in France.
- Advised Briarwood Chase Management in managing its equity and senior debt and participating in the negotiations of the financial restructuring of Technicolor Creative Studios, entered into amicably under conciliation proceedings.
- Advising iQera, the largest French debt collector, in its financial restructuring.
Lawyers
Hall of fame
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Leading partners
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.
Next generation partners
Junior partners with significant recognition from clients and peers in the market and key roles on multiple matters.
Practice head
Alexandra Bigot
Other key lawyers
Hervé Diogo Amengual; Thomas Doyen; Eeva Bernard