De Brauw advises on McDermott Group's global restructuring

In a combined Dutch WHOA process, UK restructuring plan and US Chapter 15 proceedings for McDermott - the global engineering and construction company - De Brauw advised and represented an ad hoc group of secured financiers (the LC Group).

The two Dutch WHOA plans form a critical component of the cross-border restructuring involving: (i) the amendment and extension of over EUR 2 billion of LC facilities and certain other secured credit facilities by three years; and (ii) the conversion of Reficar's unsecured claim of EUR 1.3 billion under an ICC arbitration award, into equity in the McDermott Group. Following the recognition of the Dutch WHOA plans and the UK restructuring plan in the US under Chapter 15, the plans can also be enforced against creditors in the US. The sanctioning of the Dutch WHOA plans, the UK restructuring plan, as well as the Chapter 15 recognition of the plans, were a condition precedent for the entire global restructuring, which closed on 25 March 2024.

The restructuring's key features included using the Dutch WHOA for a US-based multinational; fully aligning and interlinking the proceedings in the Netherlands and the UK; and the Amsterdam District Court appointing a plan expert at the request of the LC Group. The latter was done to bring more balance to the WHOA plans as presented by McDermott and a large group of its secured creditors and shareholders. The LC Group's request to appoint a plan expert was supported by Reficar. Following several litigation rounds in courts in The Netherlands and the UK (decisions which have been published), the WHOA plans were revised and now better reflect the interests of the joint creditors. As a result, both the revised plans were widely supported and no creditors voted against them.

The De Brauw team advising the LC Group on this transaction consisted of Ferdinand Hengst, Jeroen van der Schrieck, Ryanne Elkerbout-Kok, Pepijn van der Veen, Maartje Leijser and Walter Nijnens. De Brauw's restructuring team are experts in designing and negotiating complex, international high-impact debt and other restructurings, and in dealing with related litigation and advisory work.