Nortel Networks

Client: Ernst & Young
Practice areas involved: restructuring and insolvency, corporate, finance, real estate, employment, pensions, dispute resolution, tax, IT/TMT, competition
Value: undisclosed



Our work advising Ernst & Young, European administrators to North America’s largest telecoms equipment manufacturer, Nortel, has been in two phases. Firstly we advised on and helped implement an innovative insolvency procedure which placed 16 subsidiaries (each incorporated in different European jurisdictions) into administration. This multi-jurisdictional administration was one of the most complex administration filings ever undertaken in London. Secondly, we continue to advise on and coordinate subsequent M&A transactions.

The scope and breadth of this matter has drawn upon all areas of our London, Paris and Moscow offices, as well as involving our Alliance firms, Gleiss Lutz and Stibbe, and other relationship firms across some 24 countries in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

According to leading partner Stephen Gale, “Nortel is a wonderful example of the quality and breadth of Herbert Smith and that of our Alliance and other relationship firms. We have had teams in Canada and New York almost every week since the beginning of the year and the case is a testimony to the international and dynamic nature of our work.”