On July 14, The American Lawyer magazine selected the winners of its fourth annual Global Legal Awards. Our firm was an honoree in the category ‘Global Finance Deal of the Year: Private Restructuring’.
14.9.2016
Castrén & Snellman an Honoree in The American Lawyer’s 2016 Global Legal Awards
The winner case this year in that category was the restructuring of the Icelandic banks, which became effective from December 23, 2015. The transaction followed the failure of Kaupthing Bank hf., which first entered into Icelandic insolvency proceedings in 2008 with liabilities of more than US$45 billion and creditors in more than 100 countries, including Finland. It is one of the largest bank insolvencies ever to take place.
Kaupthing hf. issued a composition proposal – a form of restructuring under Iceland’s Bankruptcy Act – to senior unsecured creditors of Kaupthing at the end of October 2015. The composition proposal was overwhelmingly approved by those creditors and subsequently confirmed by the Reykjavik District Court on December 15, 2015.
We advised Kaupthing hf. in preparing and structuring the composition proposal in respect of the Finnish creditors. Our advice covered especially questions relating to Finnish securities legislation and disclosure rules vis-à-vis Kaupthing’s insolvency proceeding.
The other honorees representing Kaupthing were White & Case, LEX, Torys, Homburger, Chiomenti Studio Legale, Wolf Theiss, Garrigues, M&P Legal and Walkers.
The American Lawyer’s marquee global contest attracted more than 200 strong entries this year. The winning deals were judged by an editorial team of reporters, led by The American Lawyer’s senior correspondent, Michael Goldhaber. The criteria of judgment included:
The winners will be honored at the Global Legal Awards dinner on 26 September 2016 in New York. The full list of winners can be viewed at www.law.com.
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