Georgia Quenby

My main areas of practice are commercial finance, asset-based lending, acquisition finance and lending in the retail sector, and I also have significant experience in M&A and project finance. I have worked on financial restructurings of well-known stressed businesses, frequently representing lenders or financial investors, and have been a licensed insolvency practitioner in the UK since 2010 enabling me to advise on downside scenarios and directors’ duties as well as investment-grade transactions.

I am a Distinguished Practitioner Member of the Commercial Law Centre, University of Oxford, and guest lecturer on the law and practice of floating charges, and a Member of the Advisory Council, Centre for Commercial Law Studies, and guest lecturer on commercial credit and security.

Core components of many businesses and transactions I have been involved in include contractual or recurring revenue streams, real estate, business transformation including by way of M&A, ESG, commodities, green energy, and, frequently, cross-border elements. I have particular expertise in English law and New York law relating to security over both tangible and intangible personal property.

I have deep experience in corporate governance and directors’ duties both from a legal perspective and at board level.

I’ve also been an early advocate for ESG principles and have spoken on many webinars and advised on ESG including in the aviation and mining sectors and more in financings more broadly.

Representing lenders, investors and companies in financings and stressed/special situations including:

• convertible bond and warrant for a UK listed recycling business
• shareholder funding for two separate EV charging businesses
• senior debt financing of the redevelopment of student housing in Nottingham
• financing of the Royal Mail property portfolio
• financing and refinancing of MatchesFashion including through acquisitions and significant change prior to administration
• senior secured financing through significant change of luxury retailer Asprey
• senior secured financing through CVAs including PE acquisition and subsequent administration of the Beale department stores

• senior secured financing of AllSaints through CVAs including recognition via Chapter 15 in the US and CCAA in Canada and subsequent successful refinancing
• the acquisition via a scheme of arrangement, restructuring, subsequent administration and post-administration acquisition and re-launch of European airline Flybe for Cyrus Capital Partners
• the refinancing and restructuring of MFI including the administrations of Sofa Workshop and MFI and subsequent financing for the successful Howden Joinery business
• representation of the boards of the HMV companies in Hong Kong and Singapore through the administration of HMV in the UK
• representation of impacted creditors in MF Global’s administration including successful challenges to bank guarantee claims
• representation of Turkish hotelier creditors to various Thomas Cook companies
• administrations of Bernard Matthews, Maplin, Austin Reed and LKBennett (including the Chapter 11 in the US)
• restructuring and credit-bid exit from Intelligent Engineering in the UK and BVI/Bermuda
• restructuring and scheme of arrangement for Schefenacker