John Houghton specialises in advising creditors, sponsors, insolvency companies and practitioners on all areas of international restructurings, insolvency, corporate rescues and general corporate recovery. He also advises parties seeking to fund in to existing insolvencies and restructurings, as in Petroplus and Kloeckner. Mr. Houghton's representative clients include investment banks, hedge funds, companies, sponsors and boards of directors.
Mr. Houghton is the global Co-chair of the Latham & Watkins Insolvency Practice and head of the European Restructuring and Insolvency Practice.
Mr. Houghton has extensive experience of highly complex corporate and financial restructurings, administrations and international cross-border insolvencies. He is a member of R3 (the insolvency professional body), the Insolvency Lawyers Association, INSOL Europe and is a Fellow of the Association of Business Recovery Professionals.
Mr. Houghton's representative transactions include:
Advising creditors:
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SEAT Pagine Gialle
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Blue City Oman
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British Energy
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Eurotunnel
The Eurotunnel transaction was named Restructuring Deal of the Year at the annual IFLR European Awards 2007. Latham advised Deutsche Bank, the pivotal creditor. "This $9.1 billion restructuring was the first time the new French insolvency procedure was tested and the complexity of its capital structure was almost unprecedented."
The British Energy transaction was awarded Restructuring Deal of the Year at the annual IFLR European Awards 2005, and was described as "one of the largest and most complex of any in UK corporate history".
Advising the debtor/insolvency practitioner: