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Freshfields advises a group of three noteholders on the debt and capital restructuring of IKKS
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP (‘Freshfields’) has advised Avenue Europe International Management L.P., CarVal Investors GB LLP and Marathon Asset Management LP, on the debt and capital restructuring of the French fashion retailer IKKS. The restructuring was conducted under a French ‘sauvegarde financière accélérée’ or expedited financial safeguarding proceeding meaning the financial debt was restructured in a short period of time.
The proceeding, which was approved by the Paris commercial court, combined a change of control of the group in favour of a Luxembourg vehicle owned by the existing noteholders; the reinstatement of €140m of the existing €320m high yield notes; and the repayment of the remaining amounts through the issuance of new equity instruments.
The restructuring was at the level of HoldIKKS, the issuer of the existing high yield notes. Conciliation proceedings were also held in respect of other entities of the group. The conciliation protocol allowed the issuance of €70m of new money notes which existing noteholders could subscribe to and was backstopped by the three institutions.
The Freshfields team acting on this complex restructuring was led by Paris partners Laurent Mabilat, Guy Benda and Stéphanie Corbière who advised on restructuring, finance and corporate aspects respectively. Vincent Daniel-Mayeur led on the tax and restructuring side together with ACT partner Jérôme Philippe.
Several London-based partners also worked on aspects of the deal. Richard Tett and Andrew Hagan advised on US and English aspects of law, Peter Allen on the financial aspects and Laurie McFadden on shareholders’ agreement.
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