Allens acted for the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) in its role as the agent, and CBA Corporate Services (NSW) Pty Limited as the security trustee on behalf of the syndicate lenders.

The matter concerned a restructure of a $2.8 billion debt facility through four creditors' schemes of arrangement. This involved a debt-for-equity swap in respect of the secured debt, and a transfer of ownership of the companies in the Alinta Finance group to an entity controlled by the lenders.

Allens partner Vijay Cugati said the restructure marked the first time that a scheme of arrangement had been used to effect a debt-for-equity restructure for many years.

"As well as this, this matter is one of the largest restructurings of distressed debt in Australia and involved significant levels of trading of distressed debt between lenders," he said.

The Allens team, led by partners Ian Wallace, Vijay Cugati, Mark Kidston, Diccon Loxton, Andrew Finch, John Warde and Michael Quinlan, cuts across the banking & finance, corporate, corporate insolvency & restructuring, and tax groups.

Partner Ian Wallace said that the restructure had been a "most extraordinary" matter involving a rolling series of crises and challenges with a changing cast of clients.

"The ultimately successful outcome is an enormous tribute to the dedication, creativity and professionalism of all parties and advisers on this transaction," he said.

VIEW ALL

Baker & McKenzie and Arnold Bloch Liebler acted for TPG, Freehills acted for Amber Holdings, Blake Dawson acted for Anchorage, Bingham McCutcheon acted for Oaktree, while Clayton Utz, Minter Ellison, Gilbert + Tobin and Kemp Strang also took roles.