James Chesterman

James’ representative transactions and other matters include advising:

Restructuring & Special Situations

• The RCF and term loan lenders to Petrofac in relation to its financial restructuring and restructuring plan
• The lenders to wefox in connection with its financial restructuring and refinancing 
• Biwater International in relation to various financial restructuring issues 
• The Ministry of Finance of Saudi Arabia on the debt restructuring of the Saudi Binladin Group, 
• A bilateral lending bank in connection with the restructuring of loans to James Fisher & Sons plc 
• The senior creditors committee in relation to the c. £620 million debt and equity restructuring of Doncasters Group 
• Senior secured lenders to the Lifeways Group on the first successful restructuring plan by a regulated UK healthcare business 
• Senior secured lenders in connection with the financial restructuring of Travelex
• The agent in connection with the restructuring of Vue Cinemas
• Princess Yachts and its shareholders on its financial restructuring and subsequent sale and refinancing 
• Pemberton Strategic Credit in connection with the restructuring of Output Services Group 
• Smile Telecoms, the African telecommunications provider, on its financial restructuring 
• The RCF banks in the restructuring of Carlson Wagonlit Travel 
• The revolving facility lenders on the financial restructuring and refinancing of Matalan 
• Various banks in connection with waivers and liquidity requests on multiple situations arising from the Covid-19 pandemic
• Various international and Middle Eastern banks in connection with the restructuring of Saad Trading
• Credit Suisse as agent in the restructuring of CGG
• Various banks and CLOs in relation to the restructuring of Prezzo
• Unicredit, as senior and security agent, in the restructuring of Kloeckner Pentapast, a German plastics manufacturer
• Barclays Bank PLC as security agent in the restructuring of Four Seasons Healthcare and the related rectification litigation
• Savannah Petroleum in relation to the ongoing potential restructuring and acquisition of Seven Energy
• Ashkenazy Acquisition Corporation in its distressed acquisition of Grosvenor house Hotel and its related financing arrangements
• Wilmington Trust as security agent in the restructuring of Niko Resources
• Damovo Group SA, Schoeller Arca Systems, Deutz AG, and other debtors in connection with their debt restructurings
• The institutional noteholders in the consensual debt restructurings of SMG plc, MyTravel plc, Hagemeyer, Candover Investments plc, and Deceuninck (amongst others)
• Certain debt holders in the restructurings of Chorion, Vantico, Primacom, Cablecom, Inspired Gaming, BST Safety Textiles, Consolis, and Danaos Corporation

Creditor- Side Loan Finance

• A leading US bank in connection with the establishment of an account bank / escrow agency function
• A leading UK bank in connection with issues regarding settlement risk in loan syndication
• A leading international bank in its establishment of a private credit business
• HSBC, Rabobank, ING, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and JP Morgan in connection with the £935 million term loan facilities and £75 million revolving credit facility enabling Yildiz Holding to acquire United Biscuits from private equity funds managed by Blackstone and PAI Partners and the refinancing of that facility
• Certain bilateral bank lenders to LivaNova plc
•  Lloyds Bank plc as arranger in the senior loan financing to Odeon Cinemas Limited
• Haymarket Financial on its loan facilities to Auto-Teile-Unger (A.T.U) Group, a German car parts retailer, on its emergence from restructuring in 2014
• HSBC as agent in the €2.38 billion and US$300 million financing for Altan Technologies to acquire Aricent Technologies
• Macquarie and Nomura in the £403.5 million financing for Jackpotjoy plc
• The lead arrangers in the €900 million refinancing of Italo – NTV
• BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse, and JP Morgan in relation to the €35 million super senior revolving credit facility alongside a €350 million high yield bond offering for SGD Group SAS (Saint-Gobain Desjonquères Group)
• JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, and Lloyds Bank in relation to term loans and revolving credit facility, in connection with a €257 million bond offering, for Oberthur Technologies S.A., a manufacturer of magnetic stripe cards, smartcards, and related software and equipment
• Pemberton in its financings to Dorea and Infinigate

Borrower- Side Loan Finance

• Astorg Partners and Epiris on the financing of their acquisition of Euromoney Institutional Investor 
• L Catterton Europe on its acquisition financing of a significant minority shareholding in Little Moons
• Epiris on the financing of its acquisition of:
  • Inchcape Shipping Services (ISS), a maritime services provider 
  • LoneStar Group, a manufacturer and supplier of high-performance fasteners, sealing products, precision-engineered components, and pipeline packages 
• Schoeller Allibert on its trade receivables financing arrangements in Poland, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, France, and England
• Venator Materials plc in its 2017 European ABL revolving credit financing with subsidiaries in the US, Canada, UK, Germany, France, and Spain
• TA Associates in its financing in relation to its shareholding in Inspired
• TA Associates in its acquisition financing of LIST SpA
• Centurion Partners in its asset-based margin loan financing
• Fine Art Fund in its lending activities secured on works of art
• Tynagh Energy in its financing arrangements
• Albacore in its fund financing facilities
• Helios Investment Partners on debt aspects of various equity investments