Lionel Spizzichino is a partner in the Business Reorganization & Restructuring Department of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP in Paris. He has extensive experience in Lender-led and complex cross-border restructurings as well as French pre-insolvency and insolvency matters, including amicable restructuring, insolvency proceedings, restructuring litigation and distressed mergers and acquisitions.
Lionel also advises on mergers and acquisitions with a particular focus on cross border acquisitions and complex carve-outs.
His clients include corporate debtors, creditors or investors in a wide range of sectors such as retail, media, chemical, financial services and automotive. He regularly advises investment funds, recovery funds and hedge funds.
Lionel has been involved in some of the most significant pre-insolvency proceedings, bankruptcy proceedings and high-profile distressed M&A cases in France.
Lionel is consistently recognized by Chambers Europe, Chambers Global and Legal 500 EMEA as a leading individual in restructuring and insolvency law in France.
Lionel's representative matters include*:
- The CoCom Bondholders on the financial cross border restructuring of Lecta’s €600 million senior secured notes and €65 million super senior revolving credit facility, implemented by way of an English Scheme of Arrangement, a U.S. Chapter 15 and including specific agreements for the future of Condat in France, the first private employer in the Dordogne area
- Bondholders (1bn euros of Bonds in total) on the financial restructuring of JACCAR, the parent company of Bourbon, a leading offshore vessel listed operator in the oil and gas sector
- Air France on the contemplated acquisition of activities and assets of Aigle Azur, second French airline company under insolvency proceedings
- OpenGate Capital on its acquisition of Saint-Gobain’s worldwide silicon carbide division
- Alès Group, a cosmetic company listed on Euronext Paris in the context of its financial restructuring
- JP Morgan Asset Management in connection with the financing of Locamod Group, a construction equipment rental company
- Attestor Capital in relation to a potential investment in Maranatha Group under insolvency proceedings, a leading French hotel group who owned or operated more than 55 hotels in France
- Ateliers des Janves Group in the automotive sector in connection with its financial restructuring and subsequent insolvency proceedings
- OpenGate Capital on the sale of NAKAN, a global PVC compounding solutions business headquartered in France to Westlake Chemical Corporation
- HLD and Filorga on the acquisition of the Lazartigue Group
- The Steering Committee of the High Yield Bond Holders on the debt restructuring of French oil services company CGG, one of the major financial restructuring in France with $3 billion of indebtedness and the first restructuring conducted under French and U.S. legal proceedings with a Sauvegarde in France and chapter 11 and chapter 15 cases in the U.S.
- Sandton Capital as bidder for the asset of William Saurin (a French food company)
- Verdoso as bidder for the asset of Groupe Flo, one of the leading restaurant chains in France
- OpenGate Capital for the financing of the acquisition of EverZinc
- BlueGem Capital Partners on the acquisition of DMC
- Chenavari Investment Managers on the acquisition of PrimaVista
- Compagnie Industrielle et Financière de Bussy on the acquisition of Aciéries Hachette et Driout to build the leading steel company in France
- Borletti Group and Chenavari in connection with the restructuring of Gerard Darel
- Masonite International Corporation, listed on the NYSE and one of the global leaders in manufacturing doors for construction, in connection with the proposed sale of Premdor France Group (Premdor SAS and its subsidiaries) to the distressed fund Perceva
- Zodiac Marine, worldwide leader of the manufacturing and sale of inflatable boats, in connection with its insolvency proceedings
- OpenGate Capital in connection with the restructuring of Kem One (chemical group with 2,600 employees, a turnover of €1.1 billion, 22 industrial sites over 10 countries)
- Wilmington Trust in connection with the recovery of $1.75 billion bonds of Petroplus on bankruptcy liquidation
- Restructuring issues in connection with the acquisition of Cœur Défense by Lone Star Funds
- HLD in connection with the acquisition and the safeguard plans of Laboratoires SVR, French dermo-cosmetic skin care laboratory
- Bpifrance in connection with the sale of Jardineries Delbard (161 shops, CA: €250 millions) to the cooperative group Gamm Vert
- Attestor, an investment fund and one of the main creditors of Saur, in the restructuring of Saur "amounting to €1.8 billion," a major lenders-led restructuring of a leading French player in the water & outsourced waste management services for local authorities and industrial customers
- HAGER, a European leader supplier of solutions and services for electrical installations in residential, commercial and industrial buildings (turnover: €1.6 billion) in connection with complex litigation related to the acquisition of Potentiel/Artys
- Insert, a leader in city centre outdoor advertising, on its MBO, a pre-packaged sale subject to the opening of the safeguard proceeding –a first in France; the investment was made through a capital increase and a debt restructuring making the acquisition possible
* Lionel advised on some of these matters prior to joining Willkie.
Lionel is a member of Association pour le Retournement des Entreprises (ARE), Insol, Institut Français des Praticiens des Procédures Collectives (IFPPC) and Association Française en Faveur de l’Institution Consulaire (AFFIC).
He is also a lecturer in corporate restructuring law at Paris Bar School (EFB).