Mayer Brown advises on highly-complex Genting Hong Kong's restructuring

Mayer Brown advises on highly-complex Genting Hong Kong's restructuring

The US firm successfully steers $3.5 billion restructuring that ultimately saved thousands of jobs across multiple global economies

On the face of it, the task at hand appeared quite daunting. However, the Hong Kong arm of the US international law firm Mayer Brown successfully steered a highly complex restructuring of Genting Hong Kong.

The firm advised the seven-bank ad hoc steering committee representing all financial creditors to Genting Hong Kong Limited's (Genting) cruise, ship construction, gaming operation and associated businesses.

The committee represented more than 30 bank lenders and credit support providers in Hong Kong-listed Genting's $3.5 billion debt restructuring, which also involved new funding from the German government's Wirtschaftsstabilisierungsfonds (WSF). WSF, the German economic stabilization fund, was set up during the pandemic.

The highly complex cross-border restructuring involved assets, financial creditors and governmental authorities in multiple jurisdictions including Hong Kong and Germany, where Genting owns and operates a shipbuilding business under the MV Werften group, as well as Mainland China, Malaysia, Singapore, the United States, Bahamas, Bermuda, and the Philippines.

"It was extremely rewarding for us to counsel our client and all involved through this incredibly sophisticated restructuring, which ultimately helped our client achieve their goals and saved thousands of jobs across multiple global economies," said John Marsden, partner of Mayer Brown and co-leader of the Global Restructuring practice.

The Mayer Brown team was led by Restructuring partners John Marsden and Tom Pugh with senior associate Dirk Behnsen and legal assistant Ashley Chan (all Hong Kong). The team also included Corporate & Securities partner Marco Wilhelm and senior associate Stefanie Skoruppa (both Frankfurt), partner Paul C De Bernier and associate Tareah Ikharo (both Los Angeles); Banking & Finance partner Doos Choi and counsel Evelyn Lok (both Hong Kong), partner Ian Coles and senior associate Clare Betteridge (both London); and Restructuring partner Pierre Dzakpasu (Singapore).