To our clients and friends

Welcome to our fourth quarter issue of Norton Rose Fulbright's International Restructuring Newswire. We again draw on our global team of lawyers to address some of the key issues facing restructuring professionals.

The recent restructuring of the Dutch shipping group Vroon demonstrates vividly the challenges facing practitioners dealing with the complexities of cross-border situations. The restructuring also demonstrates that with creativity and perseverance, practitioners can use the tools that exist to put together deals that preserve businesses and maximize recoveries for creditors and other stakeholders. Here, we take an in-depth look at the successful Vroon restructuring and how the parties used both a Dutch WHOA and an English scheme of arrangement to get the deal done.

In this issue, we also hear from our practitioners in Canada on the challenges to intercreditor covenants in insolvency proceedings and in the US on how cannabis companies fare in the US bankruptcy courts. And we take a global view on two increasingly critical issues: the use of mediation in restructurings and risk to directors of companies on the cusp of insolvency.

• Vroon restructuring: A lesson in adapting to and overcoming challenges
• Towards an optimal model of directors’ duties in the zone of insolvency: A comparative assessment
• Intercreditor covenants face new challenges in Canadian insolvency proceedings
• Mediation as a bankruptcy and insolvency game changer
• Blaze to bankruptcy: US bankruptcy courts display increased willingness to entertain cannabis related bankruptcy filings

Good reading!

Howard Seife
Global Co-Head of Restructuring
New York

Scott Atkins
Global Co-Head of Restructuring
Sydney

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