International law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges is advising in relation to the first ever bankruptcy administration proceedings in the Republic of Kosovo, following the submission of a bankruptcy application against Coresteel Sh.p.k. (“Coresteel”) to the Kosovar court on 21 January 2015. Coresteel is the owner and operator of a steel galvanising plant and production facility in Llamkos, Kosovo. The Llamkos steel plant, which is one of the largest steel galvanising plants in the Balkan region, was acquired by Coresteel in 2011 as part of the Kosovar government’s privatisation programme. The administration proceedings represent the first corporate insolvency in Kosovo’s seven year history and have involved the ground-breaking application of Kosovo’s recently introduced corporate insolvency rules and procedures.
The team is being led by Weil’s London Head of Restructuring Adam Plainer, assisted by restructuring senior associate Paul Bagon and trainee associate Alex Eagle, with additional assistance from litigation senior associate Matthew Akers.
This is the latest first-to-market transaction on which the London Restructuring team has advised, as we continue to take a lead role in the highest profile and most complex restructuring cases in the marketplace, many with significant implications for the relevant areas of law, including the landmark pensions settlement of the Lehman group’s UK liabilities which concluded more than four years of pension litigation proceedings, as well as the ground-breaking UK High Court approval of client money resolution agreement in the ongoing MF Global case. The continued successes of the team have been recognised in the market with the team being twice awarded “Restructuring Team of the Year” at the 2014 Legal Business Awards and The 2014 Lawyer awards.