Bennett Jones was recognized for its role in the Restructuring Deal of the Year—McDermott International's successful restructuring—at the IFLR Americas Awards 2021.

McDermott’s restructuring was a vast exercise in its breadth and depth. The restructuring pulled the company and 225 of its subsidiaries and affiliates, including 107 foreign domiciled entities, through prepackaged Chapter 11 cases in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of Texas. At the time of filing, McDermott, a global engineering, procurement, construction and installation company, employed over 42,000 individuals across 54 countries and 6 continents.

Key aspects of the case included negotiating a new emergency facility with several secured lenders worth $1.7 billion, thereby avoiding a potentially catastrophic bankruptcy. Once under Chapter 11, the case reconciled the diverging demands of LC issuers, term lenders and bondholders to enable a fully consensual restructuring. The deal struck equitized over $4.6 billion of debt and consummated the $2.7-billion sale of McDermott’s Lummus technology business to private equity buyers. It represents a monumental cross-border effort to achieve a consensus-based result.

The IFLR Americas Awards celebrate the most legally innovative cross-border transactions that closed in 2020—and the teams and firms behind the deals, their work and ingenuity.