VION

VION (2014)

A&O advised a syndicate of 11 banks on a EUR 1.1 billion syndicated loan on a multijurisdictional, multi-layer debt, financial and corporate restructuring of Vion, a global food company. This included advising on contingency planning, a restructuring agreement and the divestment of its ingredients division to Darling International for EUR 1.6 billion.

“The cash management challenges in a marginal business like the meat industry made this restructuring very sensitive”

Sigrid Jansen (Partner, Amsterdam Restructuring) commented: “The Restructuring of the food company was made particularly complex because of the high turnover, with very low margins and dependency of suppliers on credit insurers. If the credit insurers started to lower their credit limits, it would immediately result in a liquidity problem. This was the first time that we included the credit insurers in the financial restructuring and offered security for their exposure to keep them on board. This made it possible to sell the ingredients part of the business for 1.6 billion, repaying our clients in full.”

The A&O Team

The restructuring involved teams across Amsterdam, Belgium, Brazil, France, Germany, London, Luxembourg, Hong Kong, New York

The Dutch team was led by partners Sigrid Jansen and Femke Bierman, assisted by senior associate Duco Postma.