Wayne Beck

Wayne has acted extensively for both debtors and insolvency officeholders in drafting and implementing their schemes of arrangement (and other restructuring arrangements), and has also acted for key creditors in negotiating and, where necessary, challenging other schemes. He has also acted for insolvency officeholders in formal and ad hoc appointments, and in other cases advised creditors in their dealings with debtors and officeholders.

Wayne also has experience assisting with the restructuring of a number of distressed securitizations and other structured finance products, including distressed collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), structured investment vehicles (SIVs) and commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS), and has regularly advised clients on security and insolvency law aspects of commercial, structured and leveraged finance, particularly with respect to catastrophe bond transactions.

Representative Experience

• Northwood Investors on a multi-year engagement relating to the restructuring, refinancing and eventual sale of their interest in UK Land Estates.
• GLAS Trust Corporation Limited in the Energy Transfer Scheme of Bulb Energy Limited (in energy supply company administration).
• A global bank on the restructuring and refinancing of a large portfolio of Spanish real estate.
• The U.S. court-appointed receiver in In Re Smerling Litigation (Southern District of New York), a receivership relating to the misappropriation of over $136 million from two financial institutions.
• A landlord in the company voluntary arrangement (CVA) of AllSaints USA Limited.
• A global card acquirer in connection with the proposed restructuring of a major global airline due to the impact of COVID-19.
• A global bank in its capacity as lender under a revolving credit facility and as swaps counterparty with Intu Properties plc, and as creditor in the administrations of Intu and its affiliate entities.
• Deutsche Bank AG, London Branch, as respondent in the landmark Lehman “Waterfall” litigation relating to priority between tranches of subordinated debt, release under a New York law settlement agreement and provability of subordinated future debts.
• The largest creditor in the Irish law scheme of arrangement of Ballantyne Re plc, an Irish capital markets securitization of a closed block of U.S. life insurance policies — the first use of an Irish scheme to compromise New York law debt.
• A global card acquirer in connection with the distressed acquisition of Flybe Limited by way of a members’ scheme of arrangement.
• AlixPartners LLP in their capacity as interim manager of the Abraaj Growth Markets Health Fund following the filing for provisional liquidation of the Abraaj Fund.
• A creditor in its challenge of the English law scheme of arrangement of Lehman Brothers International (Europe) (in administration).
• Simon Appell of AlixPartners LLP and Eleanor Fisher of Kalo in their capacity as joint provisional liquidators of Ocean Rig UDW in its successful restructuring of approximately $3.8 billion of financial indebtedness, one of the world’s largest-ever restructurings. The restructuring was implemented through four separate and interconnected Cayman Islands law schemes of arrangement with Chapter 15 recognition.
• LDK Solar Co. Ltd. in its restructuring of more than $700 million in offshore debt by way of inter-conditional Cayman Islands and Hong Kong law-governed schemes of arrangement with Chapter 15 recognition, the first judicially approved multijurisdictional debt restructuring of its kind for a China-based corporate group.
• The issuer (debtor) in the restructuring of the GRAND (German Residential Asset Note Distributor plc) securitization, which was the largest (by value) European CMBS (€5.13 billion) and the first to be restructured using an English law scheme of arrangement.
• The ad hoc committee of junior lenders in respect of the restructuring of junior debt and refinancing of senior debt in Viridian Group by a high-yield bond issue.
• Numerous counterparty creditors in relation to a wide range of unsecured, client money and trust asset claims against Lehman Brothers International (Europe) (in administration) and in respect of all aspects of the administration, including sale and purchase of claims.