Distressed Diaries — Sue me! Litigation on the rise as European LMEs become more aggressive
Litigation against aggressive liability management exercises in Europe is on the rise as creditors fight back against sponsor’s tactics to prime minority creditors.Back in November a group of primed creditors in Dutch lingerie maker Hunkemoller filed a lawsuit in New York against US hedge fund Redwood after it uptiered its portion of the debt.Redwood implemented the same tactic in another uptier transaction with UK carpet maker Victoria PLC’s notes, which primed minority holders.More recently, in August a minority creditor in Swiss vending machine provider Selecta filed an appeal against its restructuring in a Dutch court.In this episode of Distressed Diaries, 9fin’s senior distressed reporter Bianca Boorer sat down with Duane Loft, partner at Pallas Partners, who is representing the primed holders in Hunkemoller, and 9fin senior distressed credit analyst Denitsa Stoyanova CFA.We discuss the Hunkemoller case, provide updates on the litigation process, and examine potential outcomes if Victoria's transaction faces legal challenges.We also delve into what creditors should consider when deciding whether to litigate, how litigation can help with negotiations, and compare litigation practices in the US versus Europe. And for more background see here our three-part series on the Americanisation of European LMEs.
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Jane’s LME Addiction — The minority report with Shai Schmidt
In this episode of Jane’s LME Addiction, 9fin’s head of LME coverage Jane Komsky brings in Shai Schmidt, a partner from Glenn Agre, to discuss how minority holders are thinking about LMEs. They discuss the best time to organize, when to negotiate and when to litigate, and tools and trends for minority holders to consider.Find all of our coverage on LME litigation on 9fin.Have any feedback on the podcast? Send us a note at [email protected] — thanks for listening!
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Dwindling Prospects: What happens when hospitals disappear
Private equity has made its way into nearly 23% of for-profit US hospitals, despite financial goals that can be at odds with the patient-oriented priorities in health systems.Distressed reporter Samantha Kroontje went to a new “healthcare desert” in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, to speak to some of the people impacted by the closure of its main health system, which came after years of debt-funded growth and dividends led by former private equity owner Leonard Green.In this week’s episode of Cloud 9fin, deputy distressed editor Rachel Butt spoke with Kroontje about the reporting process for a recent feature story on the fallout of Prospect Medical’s bankruptcy. It delves into the financial maneuvers of Prospect’s previous private equity owner that led to the company’s unravelling, the healthcare workers who were impacted, and the local vendors likely to get pennies on the dollar.Have any feedback for us? Send us a note at [email protected]. Thanks for listening!
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Building 9fin: From frustrated banker to fintech founder
What happens when a banker gets fed up with outdated technology and decides to build something better?In this week’s episode of Cloud 9fin, we depart from our usual programming to share an interview produced by one of 9fin’s investors, redalpine. Co-founder Steven Hunter shares how he turned years of complaining about broken fintech into 9fin — a 357-person company that's disrupting global debt markets.Discover how he and his university roommate went from sketching company values on their kitchen table to growing rapidly in the US and UK, and why they chose to be "tech-first." Plus: his father's brutal advice about winning that drives everything 9fin does.For more info about 9fin, visit our Insights page. To get in touch about this episode or any other, reach out at [email protected].
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Distressed Diaries — Hardly fair? The evolution of English restructuring plans
The English courts have been called upon several times in the last few years to reevaulate what should be considered fair in Part 26A restructuring plans.Within 2025, the Court of Appeal handed down two key decisions on distressed utility company Thames Water and upstream energy engineering firm Petrofac’s restructuring plans.Those decisions, combined with another Court of Appeal decision handed down last year on German real estate group Adler’s restructuring plan, have reconfigured the approach to assessing whether a restructuring is fair.There are now new tests for evaluating whether a restructuring plan is fair, and a focus on fair allocation and what contributions stakeholders are making to the restructuring, as well as what they get out.To unpack recent trends in Part 26A restructuring plans and what the recent Court of Appeal decisions mean for the future of UK restructuring plans, 9fin’s Will Macadam sat down Kirkland & Ellis partners Kate Stephenson and Kon Asimacopoulos, and David Allison KC of South Square.
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