Simon Thomas

• LionRock Capital 
  • Clarks Shoes

    Advising on the acquisition of a majority stake in Clarks, an international shoe manufacturer and retailer including a £100 million investment in the business in conjunction with the Company Voluntary Arrangement proposed by the company.

• Partners Group
  • Cote Brasseries

    Acting for Partners Group as purchaser of 94 French-brasserie-style restaurants through a pre-packaged administration led by FTI.

  • Caffe Nero

    Providing advice on the terms and effect of a proposed Company Voluntary Arrangement of a hospitality business with over 800 outlets worldwide.

• Medical Properties Trust
  • BMI Healthcare Portfolio

    Acting for MPT in relation to the £1.5 billion acquisition of 30 private hospitals in the largest UK real estate transaction of 2019. The portfolio’s financing had been arranged prior to the 2008 financial crisis and required a significant pre-acquisition debt restructuring. 

  • Circle Birmingham Hospital

    Acting for MPT in respect of the insolvency of the principal contractor, Simons Construction Limited, and arranging for the completion of the hospital development by the in-coming developer Imtech.

• La Salle Asset Management
  • Nobu Hotel, Shoreditch

    Acting for the mezzanine lender in relation to its investment in this prominent hotel asset.

• Marathon Asset Management
  • Project Mercatus

    Acting for a bidder of a distressed shopping centre loan portfolio, with a total debt of over £400 million, secured against 15 shopping centres. 

• A prominent US private equity fund
  • Project Chase

    Acting for a US-based private equity client by providing in-depth crisis management advice following the discovery of a fraud committed by a director, which involved implementing urgent remedial measures including the appointment of a Chief Restructuring Officer, the investigation of the fraud and restoring the stability of the business.

• LGT Capital
  • The Family

    Advice in respect of a group which provides support to early stage start-ups in exchange for equity.

• Stride
  • Silverbird

    Advice to investor in conjunction with the appointment of Special Administrators pursuant to the Payment & Electronic Money Institution Insolvency Regulations 2021

• Oaktree Capital
  • Gulmar*

    Advising a shipping group and its administrators with $350 million of debt secured against five vessels, including an in-court COMI administration application and pre-pack sale.

• Lone Star Funds
  • Puma Hotels*

    Acting in respect of the restructuring of a £350 million portfolio of 21 hotels.

  • Regency/LifeStyle Care Group*

    Acting in respect of the successful turnaround of a portfolio of 22 care homes with 1,600 beds.

  • Marlow Hotel*

    Advice in respect of a solvent restructuring of the Crowne Plaza Hotel, including a debt for equity swap and solvent share acquisition.

  • Project Hamburg*

    Acting for the secured creditors in respect of an £85 million settlement involving seven loans to 20 plus counterparties, including a debt for equity swap.

  • Project Solstice*

    Planning and implementation of project disposal programme for the sale of ten hotels. 

• Cerberus Capital
  • GMAC RFC Property Finance Limited*

    Advice in respect of £400m of loans to multiple residential developers.

• Slate Asset Management 
  
  • Abbey Retail Park, Belfast
    Acting in relation to the acquisition of the Abbey Retail Park 
• Hilco Capital 
  
  • Advice in respect of its investment in Twice2Much.*

• RoundShield Partners
  • Project Aqua

    Advice in respect of a loan facility provided in connection with the construction of a 1,800 unit high-end real estate development

* Denotes experience prior to joining Goodwin.

• Rockport

  Acting for global shoe brand Rockport in relation to its financial restructuring, including acting for its UK holding company (which holds the shares in various international trading subsidiaries).

• Project Clover

  Advice to one of the UK’s largest independent care home groups with secured liabilities of £250m+ in respect of the potential use of restructuring tools including the new statutory moratorium in order to avoid a formal insolvency process.

• Project Stretch

  Acting for an award winning electronics platform which had raised over $400 million of funding throughout the company’s research period, providing on-going trading advice and support during the repeated fundraising rounds.

• Silicon Valley Bank

  Leading the advice to a large number of Goodwin’s global technology and life sciences clients with investments in the UK which were affected by SVB’s sudden demise.

• T0day Group

  Acting for the group and the subsequently appointed administrators of the T0day Group in selling various intellectual property assets in relation to the group’s retail strategy business via a pre-pack sale to Ocado Group Plc.

• Eastnine Studios

  Acting for the company and then for the subsequently appointed administrators in selling an iOS smartphone and Apple watch digital training application to Pure Gym.

• Biotech group

Advising a significant group specializing in RNA technology and providing advice in respect of ongoing trading, directors’ duties and strategies which helped ensure the survival of the group.

• Bardsley Horticulture

  Acting for the boards of the Bardsley Group as part of the solvent reorganization and sale of shares to Camellia Plc.

• Import.io

  Acting for the group and subsequently for the administrators in the pre-pack sale of the Delaware shares in a SaaS provider.

• Project Laser

  Acting for a well-known premium consumer app in providing strategic advice in relation to trading and solvency considerations.

• Nemesis Bioscience

  Providing advice to the Cambridge-based company facing financial distress.

• SaaS company

  Providing advice to the company at a time when it was in the zone of insolvency. A transaction was successfully concluded, structured as a share sale for an upfront cash consideration with an additional earnout, thereby avoiding an insolvency of the trading entity. 

• Cambridge Broadband Networks

  Acting for CBNL and its subsequently appointed administrators in relation to advice to a global leader in millimetre wave fixed wireless access and backhaul solutions with operations in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa.

• Project Gold
  

  Acting for a pan-European prime office and event space provider in respect of its successful rescue, with restructuring options prepared in tandem as a contingency.

• Project Now
  

  Acting for the board of a rapid delivery service application prior to the sale of the company to a trade buyer.

• Med24
  

  Acting for the company and subsequently appointed administrators in selling the business and assets of a private healthcare provider.

• Climate Energy*

  In conjunction with FTI, acting for the Climate Energy Group in relation to advice following the withdrawal of government subsidies in respect of solar panel installation.

• Imtech Group*
  

  Advice to this 2,000 employee group of infrastructure, engineering, and construction companies, and subsequently PwC as its administrator, in respect of ongoing trading advice and strategies for preserving the businesses.

• PA Resources*
  

  Working with FTI in respect of advice to an upstream oil and gas group with 16 companies in nine jurisdictions and significant liabilities, including negotiations with bondholders.

• Prestbury Group*
  

  Acting for KPMG as liquidator of a leisure group that previously held assets of over £350 million.

* Denotes experience prior to joining Goodwin.

Advice to funds including Partners Group, Oaktree, Lone Star, Cerberus, LGT, and La Salle in relation to loans.

Additional examples include:

• Project Furst Part 26A Restructuring Plan - Bayerninvest/Inka
  Acting for two of the senior secured creditors in respect of the financial distress of the largest single real estate development site in Germany and the rescue strategy devised using the UK Part 26A Restructuring Plan

• Project Atlas
  Advice to a client in relation to the potential acquisition of a pan-European portfolio of non-performing loans with a book value of €700 million.
  
  
• Loan sales and acquisitions
  Acting for various acquirers and sellers of debt and security, including providing contingency planning advice.
  
  
• Project Blue* 
  Contingency planning advice to a client in relation to a £250m loan to a large property investment group
  
  
• Tattershall Castle Group* 
  Contingency planning advice to a client in relation to loans to a pub group with approximately 50 pubs and £200m of debt
  
  
• Project Thorn* 
  Contingency planning advice to a client in respect of loans to a hotel group with approximately 20 hotels and £350m of debt
  
• Emprise Group PLC*
  Acting for the secured creditor in relation to a solvent restructuring of a significant contract cleaning business, including a debt for equity swap.
  
  
• Project Sythe*
  Acting for the secured creditor in relation to a solvent restructure and sale of an equity interest in a listed PLC.
  
  
• Bondcare*
  Solvent restructure of care home group including transfer of the Bank’s debt and security
  
  
• Steamer Trading*
  Solvent restructuring of national kitchen product retailer.
  
  
• Project Jewel*
  Acting for the senior secured creditor and devising successful exit in relation to a super prime London residential asset. 

• Client Secondment
  18-month secondment to major international bank during the Global Financial Crisis

* Denotes experience prior to joining Goodwin.

• Cazoo
  • Teneo

    Acting for the administrators of various Cazoo entities.

• DigiVault
  • Alvarez & Marsal

    Acting for the administrators of an FCA registered crypto trading platform.

• Arcadia Group/Top Shop
  • Teneo

    Acting for the administrators of various Top Shop entities.

• Flexenable
  • FRP

    Acting for the administrators of a leading flexible Organic Liquid Crystal Display and Liquid Crystal optics technologies business, including a sale of the business and assets to a west-coast-based third party acquirer.

• Starleaf
  • Kroll

    Acting for Kroll as administrators of a video conference and cloud storage software provider, including a sale of various assets of the business to Zoom.

• Arena Television
  • Kroll

    Leading a cross border team, working with our New York partners, to recover aviation assets in the administration in the largest ever UK asset based lending fraud (which is believed to be in the region of £280 million).

• Asset Trust*
  • PwC

    Acting for PwC as administrator of a 19 company real estate investment portfolio and subsequent £100 million disposal.

• Euromix*
  • PwC

    Advice to PwC as the administrator of this prominent cement business and the pre-pack sale to Lafarge Tarmac.

• Broadcrown*

  Acting for the administrators of a power generator manufacturer in respect of a pre-pack sale to JCB.

* Denotes experience prior to joining Goodwin.

• Aurora Lighting

  Acting for the acquirer, by way of a pre-packaged administration, of the UK business and assets of a global trade lighting business from Alvarez & Marsal.

• Cellnovo

  Acting for Insulet Corporation, a large US listed client, in relation to the successful purchase of intellectual property assets from English administrators.

• Electroflight

  Acting for Evolito in the pre-pack acquisition of the business and assets of Electroflight Ltd, a battery developer for the electrification of the aerospace industry.

• LedgerEdge

  Following an introduction from PwC, acting for the Rutter Family, the New York based purchaser of a bond trading platform.

• DWS
  • Vita Student Homes

    Advice to the holding company in respect of the 30 subsidiary group rationalisation and reorganisation of this 6000 bed student housing group and subsequent Members Voluntary Liquidations.

• Confidential

  Acting for a prominent online business in relation to its solvent reorganization, involving a US flip. Devising plan to implement the solvent liquidation of the old trading entity and liquidation distribution of its trading subsidiary.

• Lone Star Funds
  • Project Moonstone*

    Advice to the group which had previously held 25 trading hotels and subsequent Members Voluntary Liquidations.

Denotes experience prior to joining Goodwin.