Speakers

Expertise

These skills also enable him to advise on rationalising the capital and debt structures of corporate groups, helping to save costs, or for pre- or post-acquisition purposes.

Jeremy’s mantra in all that he does is to help facilitate his client’s decision-making. He is able to assess the options available, design strategies and provide guidance to meet the client’s objectives in challenging situations.

He is at his best when winning the trust of business leaders, helping them to deal with the noise and complexities which accompany a crisis. His insight and intuition also serve to help those seeking to acquire interests and creditors looking to make the most of opportunities or difficult situations.

Jeremy acutely understands the business of insolvency practitioners. He has sold businesses for (and bought from) them on numerous occasions, equipping them to navigate sometimes difficult roads in the performance of their roles. He also pursues claims to recover assets for creditors’ benefit; and has considerable experience dealing with businesses transcending international boundaries.

Mandates

Jeremy is currently advising the shareholders of a well-known international  restaurant business with c.500 units in the UK; is advising a company operating 55 restaurants in the UK and 5 in New York; and is advising the owner of a popular restaurant of long-standing in North London.

Other mandates have included:

• Blackmore Bond Plc – advising the administrators of this property developer with £45m debt owed to retail investors.
• Euro Media Group – advising this outside broadcasting group of companies concerning the risk of insolvency of a critical supplier.
• Aviation Capital Group – advising this aircraft lessor during the build-up and aftermath of the failure of Thomas Cook.
• Grapevine Capital Limited – advising the holder of secured notes in relation to a super-senior facility and enforcement options regarding Phasor Solutions Limited, a pioneer in broadband connectivity.
• Lendy Action Group – advising a class of investors of this failed Peer-to-Peer lender in relation to difficult issues concerning the potential consequences of the contractual framework.
• Fifth Third Bank – assisting with new facility and opinion concerning Black Box group.
• Phoenix Labs – supervising due diligence and acting in the pre-packaged acquisition of the business and assets of D.D.D. Limited
• Maple Securities UK Limited – advising this investment bank and obtaining a (special regime) administration order, acting for the administrators to achieve distributions to clients, creditors and shareholders.
• Parabis Group LLP – advising management of this 2000-staff complexly–structured legal / claims handling business to preserve value and maximise the outcome over several challenging months leading to pre-packaged sales of its constituent parts.
• Connaught Income Fund, Series 1 LP/Tiuta International Limited/Tiuta Plc – advising the liquidators of both this £100m investment fund and the bridging loan companies to which the money was lent; involving implementation of a considered strategy, liaison with the FCA, FSCS and an All Party Parliamentary Group with a view to recovering investor losses.
• Hillarys Blinds – protecting European Capital’s £200m investment, designing a method which successfully resisted senior lenders exercising a loan-to-own strategy.
• Co-ordination of a US/pan-European team facilitating a refinancing via the operational restructuring of Dura Automotive Inc; transferring factories and simplifying group structures.
• Representing Landesbanki with a EUR 300m exposure in the complex financial restructuring of Actavis, which had total debts of EUR 6bn, in tandem with restructuring its owner’s debts of EUR 600m.
• Comet Group – advising management facing a dilemma over structural and financial arrangements required by the parties to a change of ownership; and again several months later following the company’s insolvency and a public enquiry.