Latham & Watkins
Latham & Watkins’ restructuring team adeptly guides clients through a broad spectrum of scenarios, ranging from out-of-court pre-insolvency work-outs to intricate insolvency proceedings. In the vibrant French market, the team boasts a formidable reputation for its expertise of high-profile distressed LEO work-outs, debt-to-equity swaps, share deals, insolvency arrangements, and complex cross-border restructuring cases. At the helm is the seasoned Alexandra Bigot, who orchestrates the team’s efforts in harnessing the collective knowledge of the firm’s banking, private equity, capital market, employment, tax, and finance specialists. This depth of expertise, complemented by their industry sector insight, ensures the successful execution of restructuring endeavours. The team also includes key contacts, such as Hervé Diogo Amengual, with experience representing international clients in both transactional and litigation aspects of restructurings, alongside accomplished recently promoted partner Thomas Doyen.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘A very professional team which has grown and has great competence at all levels.'
‘Thomas Doyen and the team were available and able to establish dense documentation in a relatively short period of time. Latham & Watkins is at the high standard of the market.'
‘Our adviser, Thomas Doyen, was able to be persuasive to the opposing party to assert our point of view and also guide us on the strategy to adopt. He was an actor in the negotiation and played an active role.'
‘The team is very available; the exchanges are clear and useful.'
‘Outstanding responsiveness and solution-oriented attitude, even when dealing with the most difficult of situations. Worked extremely effectively and collaboratively as a team, both in terms of the core group based in France, and with regard to coordinating with their colleagues in other jurisdictions.'
'Provided clarity and leadership in giving crystal clear guidance as to critical issues and needs of the specific process we have been involved in. An absolutely essential source of support.’
‘Thomas Doyen has an incredibly client centric approach: responsive, solution-oriented, and with the seniority and confidence to support in the exercise of pragmatic and commercial judgements in the most difficult of situations. Also evidenced his market knowledge and network on multiple occasions, facilitating access to other high-quality advisers in critical areas.'
- 'Celia Jiquel is cool, calm, and collected. A great sense of poise and balance when providing her advice on tricky issues and delicate topics, as well as evidencing skill in bringing together various parties to get things done. Utterly committed to delivering a positive result for her client.'
Key clients
- Ad Hoc Committee of Casino TLB Lenders
- Briarwood Chase Management
- Apollo Management Ltd
- Pimkie
- Fortress
- Smyth’s Toys
- HSBC
- Natixis
- Société Générale
- BUT
- Alcentra
Work highlights
- Advising the steering committee of EUR 1.4 billion Term Loan B lenders in the €>6 billion financial restructuring of the Casino group, a French leading food retailing group, with a turnover of more than €30 billion and more than 200,000 employees worldwide
- Advised Briarwood Chase Management as key shareholder and creditor in the context of the financial restructuring of Technicolor Creative Studios, a French group involved in visual effects, motion graphics and animation services for the entertainment, media and advertising industries, with a turnover of more than €780 million and more than 10,000 employees worldwide
- Advised the French banks in the context of the restructuring of the Damartex group, a French group operating as a European leader in the silver economy, with a turnover of more than €700 million and more than 3,300 employees
Lawyers
Hall of Fame
The lawyers at the very top of the profession, widely known and respected by peers and clients for their longstanding involvement in market-leading work.
Leading individuals
Latham & Watkins LLP
Hervé Diogo Amengual represents international clients in transactional and litigation aspects of restructurings and bankruptcy matters. Mr. Diogo Amengual represents the various parties in a restructuring/bankruptcy context (debtors, lenders and other creditors, prospective purchasers, managers, and shareholders) before, during, and after bankruptcy proceedings. He is also actively involved in the management of the firm, representing the Paris office on the Ethics Committee.
Next Generation Partners
Latham & Watkins LLP
Thomas Doyen is a counsel in the Paris office of Latham & Watkins and a member of the firm’s Restructuring & Special Situations Practice. He has developed important experience in major French pre-insolvency and insolvency proceedings cases as well as high profile out-of-court and complex cross-border restructuring matters in a broad range of industries, acting on behalf of debtors, sponsors, and hedge funds, especially with respect to distressed leveraged buyout (LBO) cases (including loan-to-own/debt-to-equity swap strategies). He also benefits from extensive experience advising corporate entities or special situations funds on the acquisition or sale of distressed businesses through share deals (distressed M&A) or asset deals under insolvency proceedings (plan de cession) and has been regularly involved in restructuring litigation cases and distressed merger and acquisition situations. Mr. Doyen is a member of the ARE, the French Institute of Insolvency Practitioners (Institut Français des Praticiens des Procédures Collectives, or IFPPC), INSOL Europe, and the Young Restructuring Professionals Association (Association des Jeunes Professionnels du Restructuring, or AJR). He has also recently been involved in a working committee of the main restructuring professional association (Association pour le Retournement des Entreprises, or ARE) working on the transposition in France of the EU Directive on restructuring and insolvency. Mr. Doyen also frequently lectures on restructuring matters at business law schools.
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Alexandra Bigot