Representatives of the international corporate restructuring community assembled in The Convention Centre Dublin this morning to review developments in the market.
Now in its fifth year, there was evidence of increased market expectation in the restructuring sector with over 300 people at the international summit making it the largest attendance since the inaugural event in 2009.
Addressing the summit, John Moran, secretary general of the Department of Finance cited eight milestones already delivered by the Government in 2013 that are serving to stabilise the economy and the banking community in particular:
- The resolution of the IBRC Promissory Notes
- Disengagement from the ELG scheme
- Continued improvement in bank profitability & resolution of legacy issues
- Liquidation of IBRC
- Sale of Irish Life
- Sale of Bank of Ireland CoCos
- Troika programme commitments being met
- Range of mortgages arrears and SME lending initiatives delivered
David Baxter, head of A&L Goodbody’s Restructuring Insolvency Group told delegates: “The local restructuring market remains very busy and the expectation is that loan portfolio sales will significantly increase in Q4 of 2013. The different approach being taken by a variety of debt-holders in the market should create opportunities for buyers in the secondary debt market.”
One of Ireland’s leading insolvency experts, Tom Kavanagh of Kavanagh Fennell highlighted the importance of debt restructuring to the country’s recovery: “While the overhang of corporate and personal debt continues to burden us, there are now definite signs that sentiment is inching in the right direction.”
He added: “Debt restructuring will play an integral part of our recovery, and the sooner we get trading businesses and consumers back on a sound financial footing the better it will be for the banks, the borrowers and the Irish economy.”
Other speakers at the summit included: John Mulcahy, head of Asset Management, NAMA; Joe Higgins, chief executive officer, CERTUS; Martin Gudgeon, senior managing director and head of Blackstone’s European Restructuring & Reorganisation Group and Tom McAleese, country head with Alvarez & Marsal’s Financial Industry Advisory Services Practice in Ireland. The summit was chaired by Economist, Jim Power.
Tom Kavanagh, Founding Partner, Kavanagh Fennell, John Mulcahy, Head of Asset Management NAMA, with economist Jim Power, David Baxter, Partner, Restructuring & Insolvency Group, A&L Goodbody, plus Martin Gudgeon, Senior Managing Director, Restructuring & Reorganization, Blackstone, at the Business & Finance Corporate Restructuring Summit 2013.