Kepler-Karst archivos | Kepler Karst

Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal participa en el VIII Seminario Jean Monnet: “Banking solvency and sovereign solvency”

14 de April de 2023 no comments in Banking and Finance, Events

Nuestro compañero Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal, Of Counsel de Kepler-Karst y catedrático de Derecho Bancario y Financiero en la universidad Queen Mary de Londres, participará el próximo 21 de abril en el VIII Seminario Jean Monnet, organizado por la Universidad de Málaga, sobre regulación económica, competencia e integración europea.

El encuentro, titulado “Banking solvency and sovereign solvency”, abordará cuestiones relevantes en el plano comunitario relativas a los retos actuales relacionados con la deuda soberana.

Junto con Rodrigo participarán: Juana Pulgar-Ezquerra, catedrática de Derecho Mercantil de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, George Selgin, director emérito de la Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives, y Ana Lozano-Vivas, catedrática de Análisis Económico y quien moderará la jornada.

🗓️ Viernes, 21 de abril

🕐 10.00h a 12.00h

banking & sovereign solvency session with Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal

Kepler-Karst recognized by the Legal 500 ranking in Restructuring and Insolvency

12 de April de 2023 no comments in Business Law, Restructuring and Insolvency, The Firm

The Legal 500 has recognized Kepler-Karst as one of the leading firms in Restructuring and Insolvency in Spain.

The prestigious international directory lists us as one of the “Firms to Watch”, and states that we have “extensive experience in the management of complex insolvency proceedings”, advising creditors and debtors, as well as acting as insolvency practitioners.

Davinia Sánchez, managing partner, and Armando Betancor, Of Counsel, have led the Restructuring and Insolvency department since its foundation in June 2020. Together they have led and participated in some of the most relevant transactions of the last years, such as the restructuring and sale of the production unit as a going concern of Room Mate Hotels, the restructuring of the companies Interfronteras and Cife Spain, and the internationally relevant case of the Petersen companies, in which Armando Betancor has acted as Insolvency Trustee.

At Kepler-Karst we could not be prouder for this recognition. Congratulations Davinia and Armando for your leadership.

Access the ranking by clicking here.

Good job, team!

Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal on the merger between Credit Suisse and UBS

22 de March de 2023 no comments in Banking and Finance, Opinion

The merger between Credit Suisse and UBS is creating waves across the banking sector. Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal, Of Counsel at Kepler-Karst and professor of Banking and Finance Law at Queen Mary University of London, comments for Bloomberg about this momentous event.

As part of the transaction, the Swiss regulator ordered the write-down of the riskiest notes (AT1) despite that shareholders have not been fully wiped-out, leaving bondholders shocked.

Rodrigo said that “[t]here are three elements that need to be balanced: the need to preserve financial stability, the pre-established hierarchical order of claims and any waiver of rights contained in the terms of the underlying documents”. He also added that “[h]owever, regulators have a lot of discretion to justify the unjustifiable.”

Click here to read the full analysis.

2022, a year in review

28 de December de 2022 no comments in Events, The Firm

Few days before saying goodbye to 2022, we want to remember the moments that have shaped this year: we have grown professionally and as individuals, we have been recognized for our work and achievements, we have participated in high-level events and, of course, the Reform of the Insolvency Law has become our new reference book.

We cannot thank you enough for supporting us during this time. Thank you, thank you and thank you!

It has indeed been a memorable year; will you join us in remembering it?

Transaction highlights

Our advice for the reorganization and sale of Room Mate’s production unit to Angelo Gordon and Westmont Hospitality Group has been a milestone this 2022. The Kepler-Karst team involved in this transaction was led by Armando Betancor, with the participation of Luis Barber, Davinia Sánchez de la Cruz, Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal and Ana Carpintero, and was assisted by Guido Demarco.

At the beginning of the year, thanks to our advice on commercial matters, the Beverly Park hotel in Maspalomas, in the Canary Islands, found a new owner. Thanks to this, the hotel has been able to continue operating, thus safeguarding all the jobs.

We are currently helping several companies to get out of financial distress situations, and we are restructuring two companies, one in the services industry and the other in the gaming sector, whose operations amount to 2 and 8 million euros respectively.

Oh, we have grown!

Daniel Gómez and María Bartle joined the Madrid office as partners this September to strengthen the Restructuring and Insolvency areas. In February, Víctor Miranda and Antonio Montesdeoca joined the Canary Islands office to consolidate the Economic Criminal and Administrative departments there, respectively. We have expanded our team in a big way.

With so many great additions, we have outgrown our Madrid office and this summer we have expanded it. In addition, we have moved our London Desk, headed by Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal, and it is now located in the Heron Tower, in the City of London.

Recognitions

Our Of Counsel Armando Betancor has, once again, been recognized by the prestigious directory Chambers & Partners in the area of Restructuring and Insolvency -“he is a force of nature”, says the ranking about him. On top of this, he has made his debut in the Leaders League ranking of this same specialty.

Leaders League also recognized Kepler-Karst as one of the most outstanding firms in Restructuring and Insolvency, and highlighted Daniel Gómez, partner of the practice, too.

Moreover, during this 2022, we have been able to boast the recognition awarded by Cinco Días and Statista, which recognized us as one of the best law firms in 2022 and as one of the best firms in Spain in the area of restructuring and insolvency. The ranking was created based on the recommendations of lawyers themselves and with a jury made up of fellow professionals. We are so proud!

Our knowledge contributions

The bankruptcy moratorium is over, we have a new flagship law –the Reform of the Consolidated Text of the Spanish Insolvency Law– which we have analyzed non-stop (Cinco Días, Expansión, El Confidencial, Capital Radio), we have discussed the most relevant issues in current business affairs, and we have collaborated with Universities (Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Queen Mary University of London, San Pablo CEU).

We also had time to socialize and get to know each other better thanks to several events. We highlight these: We sponsored the International Series “Debt and Finance Post-Covid”, organized by the Complutense University of Madrid and Queen Mary University of London, as well as one of the talks in the series “Good Practices in Sovereign Debt Recovery”, organized by the OECD and Queen Mary University of London, we participated in the 17th Congress of Lawyers of Malaga thanks to Eduardo de Urbano, of Counsel and coordinator of the area of Economic Criminal Law, and we have not stopped supporting good causes.

Undoubtedly, a memorable year

Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal for Reuters on Ghana’s debt restructuring plans

5 de December de 2022 no comments in Banking and Finance, Opinion, Restructuring and Insolvency

Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal, Of Counsel at Kepler-Karst and Professor of Banking and Finance Law at Queen Mary University of London, commented for Reuters on Ghana’s debt restructuring plans as it faces a debt overhaul.

Regarding the $400 million guarantee offered by the World Bank to Ghana to provide extra security if the country failed to pay investors, Rodrigo said: “The guarantee was designed to kick in when there is a temporary liquidity issue, not an structural debt problem.”

Rodrigo is an expert in restructurings and sovereign debt, and has been involved in the major corporate, bank and government restructurings globally.

Read the full article here.

Our Experience as Insolvency Experts

17 de October de 2022 no comments in Restructuring and Insolvency, The Firm

Kepler-Karst’s professionals have extensive experience as insolvency practitioners in different provinces of the country, having managed more than 200 insolvency proceedings.

These are some of the most important cases in which the team has been involved:

Petersen Energía S.A.; Petersen Energía Inversora S.A.

We are the insolvency trustees of the Petersen companies. Complex transnational process with impact in Spain, Argentina and the US. This is a bankruptcy proceeding against the Argentine State as a result of the nationalization of YPF, the number one oil company in Argentina. For this case, the innovative figure of litigation financing was implemented in Spain, and the procedure was successfully financed by one of the largest and most relevant litigation financing companies in the world.

Other proceedings:

EXTRA RIEGOS, S.L., Necessary Bankruptcy Proceedings.
COMMUNITY OF OWNERS TAPIA DE CASARIEGO VS BUILDING CENTER, S.A.U.
SICONSVI, S.L., Voluntary insolvency proceeding
OSCAMADRID, S.L., voluntary insolvency proceedings
RESIDENCIA HABANA, S.A., Ordinary insolvency proceedings
TR HOTELES ALOJAMIENTOS DE CANARIAS, S.L.U., Ordinary insolvency proceedings
RUBIVIHER, S.L., abbreviated insolvency proceedings
RESIDENCIAL PUERTA NUEVA CARTAGENA, S.A., voluntary insolvency proceedings

In addition, we have worked as advisors to relevant companies going through insolvency proceedings. These are some of the recent cases:

Room Mate Hotels

We advised Room Mate S.A. in its reorganization and sale of its production unit as a going concern to the international fund Angelo Gordon and Westmont Hospitality Group. The operation was done within the framework of an insolvency proceeding. We presented a solution to continue with the activity of the hotel business together with the voluntary petition for bankruptcy.

Artrefe 3 S.A.

After having been declared bankrupt by the Court nº6 of Madrid, we tried to solve the bankruptcy situation by reaching agreements with the creditors, most of them being the largest financial institutions in the country. 100% of the debt was restructured thanks to its purchase by an investor and its subsequent capitalization, and the company recovered its activity.

Major transport company

The company was declared bankrupt by the Commercial Court Number 1 of Almería. In order to get out of the insolvency situation, a bailout operation was articulated. Negotiations were held with creditors, mostly financial institutions, and with an investment fund interested in supporting the Company financially in order to resume its activity. This was a cross-border transaction involving Spain, Bulgaria and Morocco.

NZ Patrimonio S.L.U.

Advised NZ PATRIMONIO, a real estate company based in Madrid, during the insolvency proceedings. In July 2015, the company’s main asset, a building in Madrid, was sold for over €90 million, which was the largest real estate transaction in the city in 2015.

CIFE GROUP. CIFE SPAIN BUSINESS S.L.; GLOP GAMES S.L.U.; CIFE EMOTION S.L.

Legal advice to the company during the insolvency proceedings. The scope of the advice included the assistance in the proceedings to the group of companies dedicated to the commercialization of toys, among which the famous Ksimerito dolls stand out, and concluded with the sale of the productive unit as going concern to the Mexican company Distroller.

Contractual default, credit event and credit rating default, Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal explains the difference

9 de August de 2022 no comments in Opinion, Restructuring and Insolvency

“A contractual default, a credit event and a credit rating default are three different albeit related concepts,” said our Of Counsel Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal, expert in debt restructuring and sovereign debt, in an article published by Reuters, in which he comments on Ukraine’s debt crisis. In a distress situation, it is important to distinguish among them.

A contractual or legal default occurs when the debtor breaches the event of default clause included in its external obligations and does not cure the situation before the elapse of the grace period, if any.

A credit event is what ISDA will consider as a trigger for a CDS repayment. The following are considered typical credit events: (1) failure to pay; (2) repudiation/moratorium; and/or, (3) restructuring (i.e. reduction of interest or principal payable, postponement or deferral of payment of principal or interest, subordination of the relevant obligation, etc.).

Credit rating agencies can assign a “default” (all rating agencies) or “selective default” (not applied by Moody’s). If this happens, it does not necessarily mean that the sovereign is either under default on contractual terms or has triggered a credit event. The main relevance of a credit ratings’ rating of ‘default’ or ‘selective default’ is the behaviour that it will trigger in the market.

Ukraine has proposed to defer payments on its international bonds for 24 months to avoid default. The country’s creditors vote this week on this government proposal to decide whether to back it or vote it down. In the article published by Reuters, Rodrigo explains that the two-year moratorium on external debt payments would allow Ukraine to avoid a contractual or legal default, as any amendment on the bonds’ terms would have the creditors’ backing.

Read the full text and Rodrigo’s comments of Ukraine’s proposal here.

Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal on Ukraine’s debt crisis

8 de August de 2022 no comments in Opinion, Restructuring and Insolvency

Our Of Counsel Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal, expert in expert in debt restructuring, comments on this proposal for Reuters.

Rodrigo explains that the two-year moratorium on external debt payments would allow Ukraine to avoid a contractual or legal default, as any amendment on the bonds’ terms would have the creditors’ backing.

In the article, Rodrigo algo explains that “a contractual default, a credit event and a credit rating default are three different albeit related concepts,” and that “incurring any of the three doesn’t mean that the other two will trigger.”

Ukraine faces a $5 billion monthly financing gap and liquidity pressures following Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24. Time is precious: the country has a $1 billion bond maturing on Sept. 1.

Read the full text here.

Kepler-Karst, a Leading Restructuring and Insolvency Law Firm Specializing in Complex Matters, Advises Room Mate on Restructuring and Sale

29 de July de 2022 no comments in Business Law, Press Release, Restructuring and Insolvency, The Firm

PRESS RELEASE

The pre-packaged sale and reorganization of Room Mate, S.A. was approved in less than a month within the framework of a reorganization tool under the Spanish bankruptcy act.

Madrid, Spain | July 28, 2022. Kepler-Karst (the “Firm”), a leading law firm specializing in restructuring and insolvency proceedings, has advised Room Mate, S.A. (“Room Mate” or the “Company”) on its reorganization and the sale of the business as a going concern.

This transaction involved a pre-packaged reorganization and sale of Room Mate’s hotel business and its management companies to Angelo Gordon and Westmont Hospitality Group.

Room Mate filed for reorganization on June 24, 2022, and the Commercial Court No. 14 of Madrid recently approved the transaction. The legal strategy deployed by Kepler-Karst supported the expedient execution of this transaction, which was necessary given the highly distressed financial situation of the Company, as the Firm developed a solution for the continuity for the hotel business along with the request for a voluntary reorganization.

Armando Betancor, leader of the Kepler-Karst team that worked on this transaction, stated, “The success of this strategy was due in large part to the pre-planning process, which allowed us to provide the necessary guarantees so that the Insolvency Practitioner and the Judge could act quickly and on solid ground. As experts in restructuring and insolvency proceedings, our role has been and continues to be to seek solutions and viable alternatives that help businesses in situations like this one.”

Some key steps in the pre-planning process included (1) the identification of the best possible buyer of the business unit – which included a commitment to preserving the jobs of the Company’s current workforce – through a process carried out by Kroll, an independent and highly reputable firm in the market; and, (2) once the buyer was identified, Baker Tilly – a leading international accounting firm – valued the business unit as a going concern, as well as what it could have been in a liquidation scenario, to verify that the offer received was reasonable within the expected parameters. All of this contributed to ensuring the legal security and independence of the process.

Luis Barber, partner at Kepler-Karst, said, “This is a clear example of how bankruptcy proceedings, filed in a timely manner and along with a well-prepared offer for the purchase of the business unit, can support the continuity of a company.”

Davinia Sanchez, partner at Kepler-Karst, added, “We could not be prouder of the work done here and of having helped a business in a sector that has faced pandemic-related challenges in recent years. The pre-planning work, the identification of potential buyers, and the development of a valuable and independent proposition were key.”

Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal, Counsel at Kepler-Karst and expert in financial distress situations, stated, “This transaction demonstrates the importance of knowing the global legal context. In this situation, the process was aligned with the tools available in the best global insolvency legislations, such as the schemes of arrangement or the pre-packaged administrations in the UK or the sub-rosa sale in the U.S., allowing for an expedited sale of the business as a going concern.”

The Kepler-Karst team that worked on this transaction was led by Armando Betancor, together with Luis Barber, Davinia Sánchez de la Cruz, Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal, Ana Carpintero and Guido Demarco.

Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal on Russian Debt Default

19 de July de 2022 no comments in Banking and Finance, Opinion

Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal, Of Counsel and Professor of Banking and Finance Law at Queen Mary University of London, comments on Russia’s recent default on its foreign debt.

In this article, Rodrigo, a legal expert, and Nasir Aminu, an economist at Cardiff Metropolitan University, explain the significance of the default and its consecuences. For Rodrigo, “the full impact of the default remains uncertain until the global financial market gets clarity” regarding some issues, but, in any case, “those issues would be subject to interpretation by a court of law“.

Read the full comment on The Conversation or at the World Economic Forum’s website.

Posts Tagged : Kepler-Karst