Lisa Smyth

Experience

Lisa advises on restructuring, examinership, receivership, liquidation and contentious work for insolvency practitioners, corporates and state agencies. Lisa had several mandates for NAMA and most significantly, advised it in relation to the Commission of Investigation into Project Eagle which recently held that NAMA’s disposal of its NI portfolio for c£1.3bn was appropriate.  Lisa has notable experience in acting in regulated distressed situations.

Lisa is recognised in the IFLR1000 Women Leaders Guide 2022-2025.

Key highlights include advising:

• Arena Capital Partners Limited (in examination): acting for Shane McCarthy, KPMG, interim examiner.  This is the parent company of a group which has a (1) wind turbine and solar business, (2) Operations and maintenance business and (3) property investment business.  It is seeks the protection of the court to restructure its liabilities.

• Blackbee Investments - acting for EY as liquidators appointed by the Central Bank of Ireland to this MiFID firm which had executed orders for clients in financial instruments and other investments with an investment value of €179.8 million invested in 49 distinct third-party products.  EY has since been appointed to 6 other companies in the group of 61 companies as they work towards trying to make some return to investors.

• Dolphin MUT 116 – acting for Shane McCarthy, KPMG, as Liquidator to this company.  Between 2012 and 2019, approximately €150 million was invested by Irish investors by way of loan notes, to be secured on German properties. Lisa continues to advise on the task of seeking to recover investors’ monies.  Proceedings issues in April 2024 are ongoing.

• Wirecard – acting for Moe Cohen, RSM, liquidator of Wirecard Gibraltar in relation to a potential claim of over €20million.

• Mac Interiors - acting for the company which brought a precedent setting application to allow a non EU registered company to avail of Examinership in this jurisdiction on the basis that its COMI is in Ireland.

• CBL Insurance Group DAC: The Company has underwritten circa 520,000 policies of insurance in 9 different jurisdictions.  It wrote €139 million of gross written premium in 2017, which led to the administration of the Company.  It is now in liquidation and Lisa acts for the liquidator, Cormac O’Connor, KPMG.

• Marco Polo Networks Limited - advising Interpath advisory as the Joint Liquidators of Marco Polo Networks Operations (Ireland) Limited (in liquidation) on all aspects of this liquidation in respect of a software company providing corporate customers with specialised online payments platforms using block chain technology. Advised them throughout an accelerated sale of the assets within a six week period from the date of their appointment.

• Point Village litigation:  acting for the landlord at Point Village Centre in connection with long standing litigation against Dunnes Stores. Proceedings in relation to the fit out of the Store are still ongoing.

• Norwegian Air Examinership – advised FPG Amentum, Goshawk, M&T Aviation Finance (Ireland) Limited and SMBC Aviation Capital Limited, in the Norwegian Air Examinership. The examinership was used to implement a significant fleet reduction and restructuring of US$5 billion of debt.

• Car Trawler – acting for the board of Car Trawler to advise it on the consequences of the pandemic for its business and ultimately securing a €100m investment from Towerbrook.

• JPLS Ireland Limited – in its defence of enforcement action taken by Fitzwalter in respect of various aircraft.

• Stobart Air – acting for Ken Fennell & Mark Degnan, Deloitte, as Joint Liquidators to this airline which formerly traded as Aer Arran.

• Charities Regulator – acting for the Regulator which presented a petition to wind up the embattled Inner City Helping Homeless charity.

• Hammerson – advising Hammerson on various contentious matters in its capacity as landlord of various high profile shopping centres.