A helicopter business that was in significant distress with significant personal guarantee liabilities likely to crystalise. We were selected to advise the business due to our relationships with the secured and unsecured lenders and able to rescue the business through a pre-pack administration.
The client & the situation
Following the death of the founding shareholder and the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic, the maintenance business was on the verge of insolvency and the charter business was showing signs of distress. Significant personal guarantee liabilities were likely to crystalise as the secured lender explored options to recover its position by enforcing its security. Careful planning, in dialogue with the CAA, was required to ensure the value of regulatory approvals and licences was not destroyed during the restructuring process.
What we did
A personal adviser to the deceased’s wife introduced our team to replace her incumbent advisers. We were selected because of our influential relationships with the key secured and unsecured lenders.
Our team called a halt to an existing sale process which, in his opinion, would have undervalued the businesses and resulted in a £500,000 personal guarantee call and planned and executed a new valuation and sale process using a mix of pre-pack administration and share disposals.
The outcome
Both businesses were rescued, and all employees retained and the secured lender was repaid in full and there were no personal guarantee calls.
