Insolvency and Restructuring: Responsive approach to clients needs

Restructuring and insolvency situations call for practitioners who combine thorough legal expertise with in-depth knowledge of the market and a strong focus on the clients’ needs.

Prager Dreifuss is one of the leading Swiss law firms for insolvency and restructuring, including over 40 lawyers and a total of around 80 employees at our offices in Zürich, Bern and Brussels.

With specialised experience ranging from M&A and banking and finance to dispute resolution, insurance law, private clients and tax, the firm is ideally placed to offer our clients a full and well-rounded service.

Our experience in the area of insolvency and restructuring covers all stages of corporate distress, from the early signs of financial difficulties through to restructuring agreements, debt and equity restructurings to providing advice on formal insolvency proceedings. With a dedicated team of insolvency practitioners we regularly represent companies in distress and creditors, such as banks or other financial institutions, in major national and international insolvency proceedings. Our team has extensive experience in representing creditors in all bankruptcy-related litigation, including registering and enforcing claims vis-à-vis administrators and in court. Our longstanding expertise in related fields such as M&A, banking and finance and corporate matters allows us to find effective and innovative solutions for complex situations, that are adapted to legal and economic realities.

 

Prager Dreifuss’ insolvency and restructuring team, left to right, top to bottom: Daniel Hayek, Christina Meyer, Gion Christian Casanova, Verena Morscher, Alexander Flink, Mark Meili, Remo Wagner and Laura Oegerli

 

The Prager Dreifuss insolvency and restructuring team is led by Daniel Hayek, who is also a member of the management committee of Prager Dreifuss. The team consists of four partners and counsel (Daniel Hayek, Christina Meyer, Verena Morscher and Gion Christian Casanova) and four associates (Alexander Flink, Mark Meili, Remo Wagner and Laura Oegerli). We offer a key account system guaranteeing efficiency, short response times and an attractive cost structure. For each project we form a tailored team of a partner and lawyers of varying seniority.

With our wide network of insolvency experts in other major jurisdictions, such as the UK and the US, and active ties to liquidators and administrators, we ensure that all aspects, whether local, national or further afield, are taken care of.

Recent work undertaken by this team includes the representation of the trustee and the security agent of the bondholders regarding their claims against one of Europe’s largest independent oil refiners, Swiss-based Petroplus group; enforcing a large claim based on derivatives in the litigation against the bankrupt estate of the Swiss Lehman entity; advising the trustee of the Kodak Pension Plan on the acquisition of assets and restructuring; as well as advising on the assignment of large claims raising complex cross-border issues against bankrupt estates, such as Swissair, ERB Bank and Lehman Brothers.

Prager Dreifuss is consistently ranked as an outstanding firm worldwide by leading publications, including The Legal 500, Chambers and Partners, IFLR1000 and Who’s Who Legal.