The capital markets practice at Eugene F Collins is led by Eileen Grace, who took the lead on several mandates for Anglo Irish Bank (AIB) last year.
Acting for AIB in its liability management exercise, which was launched in October 2010 and closed in February 2011, Grace assisted with the offer to buy back or exchange all of its subordinated debt equating to €2 billion....
[more]
The capital markets practice at Eugene F Collins is led by Eileen Grace, who took the lead on several mandates for Anglo Irish Bank (AIB) last year.
Acting for AIB in its liability management exercise, which was launched in October 2010 and closed in February 2011, Grace assisted with the offer to buy back or exchange all of its subordinated debt equating to €2 billion. A second deal saw Grace advise the bank on its treasury activities, which included its four debt programmes to aid the banks restructuring.
Additionally, the firm has provided capital markets regulatory advice to Citigroup Capital Markets in relation to Irish government guarantee schemes and the Credit Institutions Stabilisation Act.
[hide]
Although crisis-driven work has largely dominated the deal-list of Eugene F Collins, the firm has also completed new finance mandates recently.
An area of the economy which has remained resilient in the crisis in Ireland is the export driven industry and banks are willing to finance companies operating in this sector....
[more]
Although crisis-driven work has largely dominated the deal-list of Eugene F Collins, the firm has also completed new finance mandates recently.
An area of the economy which has remained resilient in the crisis in Ireland is the export driven industry and banks are willing to finance companies operating in this sector. In line with this, Laura MacDermott advised agricultural food supplier Kepak on securing a long-term club financing with revolving credit facilities with Bank of Ireland, Allied Irish Banks and Rabobank in April 2011.
In an ongoing refinancing, MacDermott and fellow partner Mark Walsh acted for Ulster Bank Ireland on the revision of facilities to an Irish and UK property group, which involves utilising Isle of Man, Jersey and Luxembourg structures.
The firm have also been assisting The Truvo Group, a multinational company specialising in directories and advertising, in the post Chapter 11 refinancing of its subsidiaries, which had not gone in to insolvency.
[hide]
Eugene F Collins performed a hiring coup in June 2010, poaching partner John Olden from fellow tier four firm LK Shields. But the firm already has some valued lawyers....
[more]
Eugene F Collins performed a hiring coup in June 2010, poaching partner John Olden from fellow tier four firm LK Shields. But the firm already has some valued lawyers.
Deborah Kelly is singled out by several clients and commended for her ability and dedication: "Very good. She did a great job," says one. Another client says: "I worked with Deborah for close to ten years. I've always found her to be knowledgeable, very perceptive and great at identifying legal issues. Her technical ability is very strong. Her drafting is good [and] her analysis is very good."
Gerald Caul also draws praise from clients: "He's very diligent, very professional [and] very honest in the protection of his client," says one who did, however, have issues over the firm's level of responsiveness. "Sometimes you have to chase, which frustrates me. I'll always get someone who'll respond to me but I'll use whatever door is necessary if I don't get a response from the individual I'll go higher," says the client.
Kelly acted as Irish counsel to Canadian coffee shop chain Tim Hortons on the sale of its 50% shareholding in joint venture company CillRyan's Bakery Limited to the other shareholder Prophy, a subsidiary company of Aryzta, for $475 million in October 2010.
In another significant transaction, which closed in November 2010, partners Nicola McGrath and Laura MacDermott led a team to represent Schiff Hardin on the sale of Creganna-Tactx Medical Group to funds owned by Permira.
[hide]
Eugene F Collins' established niche insolvency practise moves up a tier in recognition of the quality of its lawyers, who are extolled by clients and competitors, and their involvement in some challenging mandates in the last 12 months.The firm plays a part in the majority of the county's most significant cases, although often not in the most lucrative role; for the banks....
[more]
Eugene F Collins' established niche insolvency practise moves up a tier in recognition of the quality of its lawyers, who are extolled by clients and competitors, and their involvement in some challenging mandates in the last 12 months.
The firm plays a part in the majority of the county's most significant cases, although often not in the most lucrative role; for the banks. One competitor observed that the firm accepts instructions others would decline, explaining that the firm took on one of the challenges against Nama (National Asset Management Agency), which many would shy away from given the abundance of instructions the state agency will engender in the future. "Some of the bigger firms will only act for the banks, what I like about Eugene F Collins is that they will act for all sorts of different parties, they'll advise anybody in a insolvency situation, they're not always looking for the bigger option. They are a very straight firm, they are not cosy; they will go for the jugular for whoever their client is at that time," says one.
Several lawyers draw attention to Barry O'Neil, who is currently head of the Irish Insolvency Practitioners Association, as the firm's most distinguished lawyer: "Barry O'Neil has been around for many years and is very knowledgeable," remarks one partner.
Similarly, O'Neill is a clients favourite, valued for his knowledge, experience, client focussed approach and the weight his opinion carries. "Barry is very experienced; he's been around a while so he's seen a lot of stuff and just accumulated knowledge. He's also well respected so if you bring Barry O'Neil to a meeting regarding insolvency, people will take Barry's view seriously, so there's an advantage there," says one.
Practice head Doug Smith and O'Neill are both strictly insolvency lawyers and this is allignaired with their experience is regarded as another huge selling point. "Some of the bigger law firms might have insolvency departments with good lawyers or good litigators but they are not full time. Of all the litigators who practise insolvency there is a very small amount who only do insolvency. By and large Doug and Barry are two of those lawyers," says one client.
The firm is playing a role in one of the largest insolvencies in the world, Madoff Investment Securities. Barry O'Neill and Donal Dunne are advising, the appointed Trustee of Madoff, Irving H. Picard, who is attempting to recover some of the €20 billion Bernard Madoff accrued using his Ponzi scheme.
On the creditor's side, department head Doug Smith is negotiating for a creditor in respect of pre and post petition claim of Irish airline Aer Arann, which is under examinership. Smith is advising Vector Aerospace in relation to the enforceability of Canadian security rights in an Irish insolvency.
Another headline deal saw the firm acting in the application for the appointment of an Examiner for Pierse, a large Irish contractor. O'Neill and Jamie Ensor continue to advise in the aftermath of the appointment of an official liquidator.
[hide]