In these unprecedented times, all businesses will be facing issues they have never encountered before. The disruption caused by the measures imposed to combat the COVID-19 outbreak are significant and wide-reaching, impacting every business and its suppliers, customers, workforce, investors and lenders. At Crowell & Moring, our lawyers across the globe have extensive experience of helping clients navigate the way through these issues. Some of our representative experience in such matters is set out below. We are here to help. Please feel free to reach out to any of us to provide guidance and assistance. 

As a result of the current situation, we are advising clients who find themselves operating in the shadow of potential bankruptcies along the supply chain, in their customer base and their trading partners globally. Based on deep workout experience after past world crises, we can help clients to find and employ business strategies to minimise business disruption, salvage relationships and restructure financial facilities and business structures to facilitate ongoing trading .

Issues arising:

• Rewriting and restructuring of financial facilities and security/collateral
• Key customer and supplier contract reviews and negotiations
• Potential supply chain issues and business interruption
• Triggering of force majeure clauses
• Landlord and tenant issues
• Employment strategy and obligations
• Advising on Government policies and intervention
• Predatory pricing/supply issues
• Diversification projects and joint ventures
• Sale and down-scaling of non-core business
• Acquisition of key business operations
• Dealing with changes in the regulatory and legislative landscape
• Advising on and implementing restructuring strategies, including formal bankruptcy processes
• Managing international disputes
• Managing corporate insurance claims and renewals

Representative Engagements

• Advising a group of recruitment agencies on the impact on their agency staff of the liquidation of Carillion
• Restructuring and selling high profile online retailer in an MBO
• Advising PNC Financial UK as an agent for a syndicate of lenders in relation to the restructuring and recovery of £265 million in asset-based loan facilities made available to British Steel, which went into liquidation after attempts to negotiate a government bailout stalled.
• Acted on behalf of lenders in connection with the protection and enforcement of claims in debtor restructurings and insolvency proceedings in the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Germany, Norway, and Australia.
• Advising directors, stakeholders and insolvency practitioners in distressed scenarios including MBOs, “pre-pack” sales, restructurings, collect outs and general administration and liquidation work.
• Advising large Chinese textiles manufacturer on cancellation / postponement of global retail orders following COVID 19 outbreak and international government sanctions.
• In the aftermath of Black Monday on the U.S. stock market, represented the Robert M. Bass Group in working out and recovering on a portfolio of $6 million in real-estate secured loans in connection with the then-largest savings and loan failure in U.S. history. The successful portfolio workout included one of the first-ever securitizations as well as navigating through multiple corporate borrowers’ bankruptcies.
• Represented U.S. opportunity funds against federal governments on post-closing litigation arising from disputes over several multi-billion dollar asset purchase agreements involving assets of insolvent savings and loans in the U.S., Canada, and Japan.
• Coordinating counsel for GE Capital Real Estate in working out a portfolio of defaulted commercial loans in the South Pacific, including Hawaii and Guam.
• Lead litigation counsel for several of the top companies in Asia in rescuing them from multi-million liabilities on important U.S. matters.
• Represented a major S. based multinational toy company in multiple  claims related to the insolvency of its Hong Kong joint venture partner who shut down its manufacturing facilities in Guangdong province, People’s Republic of China.