Niederer Kraft Frey in ED&F Man Group USD 1.5 billion restructuring plan

Niederer Kraft Frey advised the ED&F Man Group and its Swiss subsidiary Volcafe on its restructuring, cross-border USD 1.5 billion refinancing and in connection with the implementation of its UK restructuring plan.

Established in 1783, ED&F Man Group operates as trader of agricultural products on the sugar, coffee and molasses markets, as well as within global Capital Markets. As commodities trader and broker ED&F Man Group has a relevant presence in Switzerland. The company has faced significant pressures during the Covid-19 pandemic and soaring commodity prices. Due to this environment, the group implemented its restructuring using a UK restructuring plan that was approved by English Court..

This plan allowed ED&F Man to restructure its borrowing base and revolving credit facilities, its term loan facilities, its private placement notes and its liabilities under a settlement agreement. It also allowed them to amend its constitutional documents, under one procedure. The restructuring plan and refinancing comprised the ringfencing and recapitalisation of ED&F Man’s commodities businesses (sugar, coffee and molasses products) from legacy assets. It included a USD 300 million injection of new money to finance commodities trading, thereby addressing the business constraints arising from the steep commodity price increases over the last year.

NKF acted as Swiss legal counsel to the ED&F Man group and Volcafe in connection with the restructuring covering corporate, finance, tax and insolvency law aspects. The multidisciplinary NKF team that supported this operation was led by partner Marco Häusermann (pictured, finance, restructuring), working with partner Lukas Beeler (dispute resolution), partner Markus Kronauer (tax) and associate Nina Bremi (finance, restructuring).