Advokatfirmaet Thommessen AS
Advokatfirmaet Thommessen AS fields a ‘uniquely qualified’ practice, advising on financial restructurings, especially in the offshore, oil services and shipping industries. Practice head Kristoffer Hegdahl is an ‘extremely capable restructuring lawyer’ with particular expertise in financial restructurings, financially distressed scenarios and workouts. Other notable practitioners include Halvor Mansåker, who works primarily with debt capital market transactions; Ellen Teresa Heyerdahl, who focuses on matters relating to bank and bond financings; and Frida Stene-Slotte, whose practice centres on debt capital market transactions and financial restructurings. Faraz Ahmed Ali, who ‘stands out and is always on top of all details’, primarily handles restructuring and insolvency matters within the shipping and offshore industries.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘Very strong team. Clearly one of the best in Norway on large scale restructurings.’
‘The Thommessen team is uniquely qualified and positioned to take on and tackle complex restructuring cases both on a national and international level. The team is large and diverse enough to entertain all aspects of a restructuring or an insolvency. The team co-operates seamlessly among themselves and with other Thommessen lawyers. The client responses are immaculate and always timely.'
‘Available for new projects on short notice. Good project management that secures progress. Precise legal advice. Must-have sense of humour.’
‘They are available and quickly get up to speed on ongoing cases. They secure progress and follow-up on projects. Advice is operational, and they are nice people.’
‘Thommessen covers all aspects of banking and finance, which is practical for us. They have some strong partners, but also some very, very strong senior lawyers and managing associates that really stand out and makes the team complete.’
‘Kristoffer Hegdahl is always on top of any matter he handles. He is very quick to grasp the issues and the strategic possibilities. Apart from the legal issues, he generally has a full understanding of the financial "puzzle" and develops sound and smart strategies. An extremely capable restructuring lawyer, in a class of his own in Norway.'
'Frida Stene-Slotte is very smart, and handles both the legal and strategic sides of a restructuring/insolvency superbly. She is an invaluable part of the team, from the client perspective, due to her responsiveness and client follow up.'
- 'Faraz Ahmed Ali stands out and is always on top of all details in a restructuring. He seems to be a key factor in the success of the Thommessen restructuring team and I hope we will see much more of him in the future.’
Key clients
- Nordic Trustee (and bondholders committees)
- DNB Bank ASA
- Nordea Bank
- Danske Bank
- Swedbank
- ABN Amro
- NIBC
- The Export-Import Bank of China (CEXIM)
- Seadrill
- Export Finance Norway
- Eksportfinans ASA
- Handelsbanken
- DBS
- Danish Ship Finance
- SpareBank 1 SR-Bank
- Sparebank 1 Søre Sunnmøre
- Sparebanken Møre
- Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB)
- MPC Containerships ASA
- DOF ASA
- Unicare
- BAML
- Recreate ASA
- Volstad Maritime
Work highlights
- Advising secured lenders of Solstad Offshore relating to a $1.5bn debt refinancing.
- Advising Recreate ASA, a Norwegian retail company, on its restructuring process.
- Advising a consortium of Norwegian banks in connection with the restructuring efforts of a listed Norwegian oil service company.
Lawyers
Rising stars
Leading individuals
Partner. Kristoffer has extensive experience from domestic and cross-border financing transactions, acting for banks and corporates. He also holds experience from bond issues, securitization projects, as well from securities lending and repo/derivative transactions. Kristoffer also works on debt restructuring projects and corporate insolvency. In addition, he teaches in several of these subjects at the University of Oslo.
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Kristoffer Hegdahl