Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) remain a major economic challenge in both emerging and mature markets. Many assume that these bad debts are beyond recovery, or that enforcement action is not commercially viable. Working with banks and investors in distressed assets, we identify viable NPLs and develop and implement strategies that drive financial recoveries.
Leveraging our significant asset-tracing and injunctive expertise we pride ourselves on swift outcomes, favouring rapid injunctive relief and prompt settlement over drawn-out enforcement proceedings.
The litigators in our NPL enforcement team are part of the largest dedicated group of international injunction and asset recovery specialists in the UK. Combining the expertise of our top-ranked Fraud group (top tier in Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners) with our Finance & Banking group's in-depth industry knowledge, we are ideally placed to advise on end-to-end solution for the recovery of NPLs.
We work with 'special exposures' and 'workout' groups at European and emerging market banks, developing and implementing global recovery strategies, focused on identifying and freezing assets against which the bank can enforce.
We also work very closely with a number of market leading litigation funders and have experience of both individually funded cases and portfolios. Litigation funding – where a third party covers the costs of litigation in exchange for a share of the proceeds, only upon successful recovery – has become an important tool in the enforcement of NPLs. Funding is permitted in numerous common law jurisdictions and under the rules of many arbitrations. The NPL team works closely with several market leading litigation funders. We have experience with one-off funded claims and portfolios of cases. We have also advised on the assignment of NPL claims into a joint venture SPV between the client and a funder. We can help clients to navigate various funding options, and allow them to unlock the value of their claims while spreading the risks associated with litigation.
Our international reach extends far beyond our offices in London. We have experience of working with banks and other financial institutions in Central and Southern Europe, the CIS, Middle East and Africa, and have successfully obtained asset seizure orders all over the world. Our recent NPL work has included litigation and advisory work with connections to England, Greece, Malta, Cyprus, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Nigeria, Ghana, North America, the Cayman Islands, the BVI and the Marshall Islands.
We are not part of a large global firm tied to using a local office, but instead have access to the best local specialist law firms in the relevant jurisdictions through our networks and relationships. That includes the International Fraud Group (IFG). Our network also includes unique relationships with leading investigations firms around the world. We are practiced at working as part of a multi-jurisdictional team, and can integrate with our client's existing and trusted local partner firms.