The restructuring was implemented through a UK scheme of arrangement combined with a share pledge enforcement before the Amsterdam district court. The UK scheme was approved on 19 August 2020 and following a court hearing on 10 September 2020, the enforcement sale of the group to a new holding company was approved by the Amsterdam district court on 11 September 2020, resulting in one of the most swift and efficient share pledge enforcements in the Netherlands to date.
Loyens & Loeff acted as Dutch and Luxembourg counsel to the ad hoc group of noteholders, putting together a team of restructuring, litigation, corporate, finance and tax experts, providing yet another example of Loyens & Loeff’s integrated approach and leveraging our involvement in many recent large and complex cross border restructurings. This team effort was led by Dutch restructuring partner Vincent Vroom, with senior associate Joris Dunki Jacobs and associates Gief de Gruijter and Kim de Bruijn. The Dutch team further consisted of litigation partner Mijke Sinninghe Damsté with associate Romy Menasalvas Garrones, corporate partners Roel Fluit and Freek Hilberdink with associates Gerda de Jong, Eline Viersen, Sadaf Elyaci and Marita Snoek and finance partner Martijn Schoonewille with Jenna Athaulla and Ivar van der Mark. The Luxembourg team was headed by corporate partners Michael Scott and Frédéric Franckx with associates Diogo Morgado Filipe and Madeleine Marques and tax advisor Charlotte Haarsma – Den Dekker.
