Akin Gump Advises Ad Hoc Group of Noteholders in Further Restructuring of Noble Group

Multidisciplinary, cross-jurisdictional Akin Gump team involved in reorganization

(London) – A multidisciplinary, cross-jurisdictional team from Akin Gump, acting as lead English, Hong Kong and U.S. counsel, have represented an ad hoc committee of senior secured noteholders in relation to the further deleveraging and reorganization of commodities trader Noble Group (Noble), including the transition of ownership of a significant part of Noble to the noteholders.

The transaction involved a consensual restructuring in excess of $1.5 billion of liabilities in the Trading Co. division of Noble. The first stage of the transaction closed on February 7, 2022, and entailed a security enforcement and the establishment of a new holding structure. The second stage, which closed today, involved a substantial debt-for-equity swap to delever the business, along with the issuance of a new $350 million facility agreement and the establishment of new governance arrangements for the new Trading Co. group. 

This restructuring follows the high-profile $3.5 billion multijurisdictional reorganization of Noble, completed in December 2018 and on which the Akin Gump team also advised.

The Akin Gump team is led by London restructuring partners Barry Russell and Lois Deasey, together with counsel Hermione Allen and associates Ross Macgregor and Abi Beardsworth, and includes lawyers from across the firm’s London and Hong Kong offices, including financial restructuring partner Naomi Moore and counsel Jeremy Haywood; finance partner Clare Cottle with associates Will Dyson and Chloe Abbott; litigation partner Richard Hornshaw; corporate partner Gavin Weir, senior counsel Tony Barnes and associate Akito Watkin; and tax counsel Matthew Durward-Thomas.

Highlighting the challenges of a deal of this scale and its complexity, partner Barry Russell commented, “This was a highly complex and fluid cross-border restructuring. The Akin Gump team has had to be innovative and agile, working seamlessly across jurisdictions and time-zones, to ensure a successful, consensual conclusion to this transaction for our clients and the Noble Group.”

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP is a leading international law firm with more than 900 lawyers and advisors in offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

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