The cross-border expertise of Baker McKenzie’s Restructuring and Insolvency practice has been recognized by Global Restructuring Review at the inaugural ‘GRR Awards’.
Held on Thursday night, at London’s Waldorf Hotel, Baker McKenzie was honored both with its place among the GRR 30 and with the ‘Innovation in cross-border insolvency and restructuring’ award for the Metinvest restructuring. The Ukrainian steel and mining company completed its US$2.3 billion restructuring in March, bringing to a close a two-year process involving three schemes of arrangement in the UK, and three parallel Chapter 15 filings in the US. Baker McKenzie acted as legal counsel to Metinvest alongside co-counsel Allen & Overy LLP.
The international team was led by Partner Serhiy Chorny from the Kyiv office and Partners Ian Jack, Roy Pearce and Adam Farlow from the London office. Key input was provided by Hanna Shtepa, Maksym Hlotov, Stepanyda Badovska, Ganna Smyrnova, Anna Boyko and Bogdan Dyakovych in Kyiv; Chris Hogan, Luka Lightfoot and Maxim Khrapov in London and Johannesburg; and Robert van Agteren, Valerie van den Berg and Koen Bos in Amsterdam.
The Awards marked the publication’s first annual celebration of the most important firms, cases and marketplace developments in cross-border restructuring and insolvency. This included announcing the ‘GRR 30’ – the top ranked firms in the newly launched ‘GRR 100’ Guide, identified for their experience and pedigree in the area.
Speaking after the ceremony, Ian Jack, Partner and Co-Chair of the Restructuring and Insolvency Group at Baker McKenzie said,
“Baker McKenzie is delighted to have claimed a GRR 30 spot, recognising the calibre of our global team. This was well evidenced by our work on the Metinvest restructuring on English, Dutch and of course Ukrainian law aspects. The transaction was highly original involving complex standstill arrangements, moratoria schemes of arrangement and was run in an incredibly challenging political and economic environment. We are proud to have assisted our client Metinvest in successfully completing this multifaceted transaction; which was highly innovative in the context of cross-border international restructuring and unprecedented for the Ukrainian market. It’s great that the deal was awarded in this way.”
