Blakes and Freehills help vacuum up debt (1)
Blake Dawson and Freehills have advised in a debt for equity swap to assist vacuum and cleaning retailer Godfreys Group. Firms: Blake Dawson (syndicate of senior lenders to International
Blake Dawson and Freehills have advised in a debt for equity swap to assist vacuum and cleaning retailer Godfreys Group.
Deal: Debt to equity swap.
Area: Restructuring & insolvency
Value: Undisclosed
Key players: The Blakes team included James Marshall, David McManus, Steve Smith, Paul O'Donnell, Barbara Phair and Jennie Mansfield.
Deal significance: Following completion of the restructuring (which took place on 23 December 2011), the debt of Godfreys Group reduced significantly, allowing the vacuum and cleaning retailer to focus on growth. "The result reflects the ongoing development of the secondary debt market in Australia in which trading banks are able to trade their secured debts to parties interested in pursuing a loan to own strategy," said Marshall