Legal Business Quotes James Roome on Restructuring Lull

Legal Business has quoted Akin Gump financial restructuring partner James Roome in the article “Waiting for Carney – hard times and hard choices for restructuring counsel,” regarding a lull in the demand for services of restructuring lawyers. The article notes that an interest rate hike by the Bank of England Governor Mark Carney could turn things around.

There is, according to the article, a growing group of credit shops, hedge funds and specialist investors driving the restructuring market and the space once held by banks. This is due primarily to nervousness around driving a distressed transaction with its various risk and political ramifications.

The surge in funds handling direct lending in restructuring, the article says, has thus created enough liquidity for banks to unload distressed assets. “For funds there is not the same systematic risk as for banks if things go wrong,” said Roome.

The article later notes, that due to a downturn in oil, gas and offshore activity, lawyers are being forced to look elsewhere for restructuring work. Roome pointed out that as an alternative to restructuring, “In offshore there is a lot of M&A – it has become a big recovery story.”