Ashurst

Led by the ‘highly professional’ Olga Galazoula, the ’hands-on and collaborative’ team at Ashurst works well with other interconnected teams, including finance, regulatory and litigation, to provide ‘high-quality advice’ to participants at every level of the capital structure, including on some complex cross-border mandates involving challenging stakeholder dynamics. Funds work continues to inform some of the deal flow, leveraging strong mid-market private credit fund relationships garnered from the leveraged finance team as well as cultivating its own ties as private capital solutions continue to play an increasingly important role in modern day restructurings. The ’calm and measured’ Ru-Woei Foong is key to this work, including as it relates to distressed investing and bespoke lending opportunities. The firm also has a very strong presence in regulated industries, with Drew Sainsbury praised for his ability to ‘distil complex legal issues into clear advice’, particularly as it relates to officeholder and debtor work in the financial services industry. ’Highly regarded litigation expert’ Lynn Dunne is also a key contact, as is Simon Clarke, for bank-side distressed real estate matters; Inga West, who has ‘deep technical knowledge on insolvency matters’; and the ’very thorough’ Richard Bulmore who excels in handling high-profile cases with a significant UK strategic or national public importance. Giles Boothman retired from the partnership, but remains as a senior consultant.