Lynn Hiestand co-leads Skadden’s corporate restructuring practice in Europe, where she focuses on troubled company M&A transactions and complex financial restructurings involving clients with global operations. These matters invariably involve reorganization proceedings in multiple jurisdictions around the world.
Current and recent representations include:
- Nokia Siemens Network B.V. in its proposed purchases of various business lines from Nortel Networks, Canada’s largest telecommunications company which is in Canadian CCAA and U.S. Chapter 11 proceedings;
- Koenigsegg Group AB, a Swedish maker of high-performance sports cars, and a consortium of investors in connection with its proposed acquisition of Saab Automobile AB, the subject of Swedish restructuring proceedings, from General Motors, currently in U.S. bankruptcy reorganization proceedings;
- Nomura in its acquisition of various businesses of Lehman Brothers in Europe, Asia and India;
- Hayes Lemmerz International, Inc., an automotive supplier with operations throughout Europe, in connection with its global restructuring;
- various financial institutions, private equity and hedge funds regarding their distressed investments, including with respect to the U.S. Chapter 11 filing of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and its affiliates, and the U.K. administration of Lehman Brothers International (Europe) and its affiliates;
- the joint liquidators of Flightlease Holdings (Guernsey) Limited, together with other subsidiaries and affiliates of Swissair Group with respect to insolvency proceedings throughout Europe and the Cayman Islands; and
- South African Airways in its operational and financial restructuring and US Airways in its acquisition of assets from troubled companies in Europe.
During the past several years, Ms. Hiestand has been involved in a variety of other cross-border activities, including the representation of Delphi Corporation in connection with matters relating to Delphi’s international operations arising from its restructuring, including concurso proceedings of its Spanish operations; Refco Inc. in Europe regarding various transactions and proceedings resulting from its U.S. bankruptcy filing, including the asset sale and subsequent winding up and liquidation of Refco’s U.K. operations, and the liquidation of Refco’s French operations; Citibank, N.A. as liquidity provider to an issuer of notes secured by Eurotunnel receivables; Groupe SEB in its acquisition of Mirro WearEver as part of Global Home Products’ Chapter 11 case; RUSAL, the world’s second largest aluminum company, in connection with the acquisition of assets from affiliates of Kaiser Aluminum Corporation in their U.S. bankruptcy proceedings; and Deutsche Bank AG in connection with responding to the Chapter 11 proceedings filed by Yukos Oil Company and related matters.
Ms. Hiestand recently was named “Woman of the Year in Restructuring for 2009” by The International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation. She recently was profiled by Dow Jones as “Mover of the Week” in its DBR Small Cap and was profiled by The AmLaw Daily in its “Dealmaker of the Week” column for her work on the Koenigsegg/Saab and Nokia Siemans/Nortel transactions. The American Lawyer said Ms. Hiestand has “legal and business credentials perfectly suited for this post-Lehman Brothers collapse business world, with over 25 years of experience in distressed M&A.”
In 2008 the London Corporate Restructuring team won both “Insolvency Legal Firm of the Year” and “International Insolvency & Rescue Firm of the Year” at the annual Credit Today Insolvency and Rescue Awards.
Ms. Hiestand has authored a number of articles about cross-border transactions and restructuring matters and is a frequent panelist on such issues. She is listed in Chambers UK 2010 and was named in the Euromoney and Legal Media Group’s 2009 Expert Guide to the World’s Leading Insolvency and Restructuring Lawyers.
