Law firm Stephenson Harwood has advised certain senior facility creditors on the English law aspects relating to the bankruptcy process of Altera Infrastructure, which was formerly part of the Teekay Group. Altera entered a Chapter 11 bankruptcy process in the United States earlier this year, with the aim of restructuring its debt of more than US$1.5 billion.

Altera's fleet of 41 vessels includes: floating production vessels, storage and offloading units, shuttle tankers, floating storage and offtake units, long-distance towing and offshore installation vessels, and a unit for maintenance and safety. This fleet provides services in the offshore oil and gas regions of the North Sea, Brazil, and the East Coast of Canada.

As part of the restructuring, seven different syndicates of lenders constituting approximately 71% of the group's total debt, entered into a restructuring support agreement with the Altera group and its equity sponsor, the investment management company Brookfield.

"We are very pleased with the results of this restructuring, which involved several weeks of intense negotiations between various creditors and Altera, on complex loan and inter-creditor aspects," said Dora Mace-Kokota, partner, Stephenson Harwood. "We were creative and innovative in our approach, which enabled us to find positive solutions for our clients, and led to the successful completion of the restructuring and the emergence of Altera Infrastructure from the Chapter 11 process. The Stephenson Harwood offering is unusual in covering the full life-cycle of shipping matters; this meant that we were able to draw on colleagues with expertise in international shipping finance and in restructuring, which proved invaluable in this matter."

The finance team was led by partner Dora Mace-Kokota, who was supported by a team including associate Lorenzo Culiat and senior paralegal Dharshini Raviendran. Managing associate Bertie Chilton advised on the intercreditor aspects of the transaction.