Toby Smyth

Counsel in the Firm’s Restructuring Practice, Toby Smyth has extensive experience acting for a wide range of stakeholders including creditors, debtors, distressed investors, officeholders and other key parties involved in complex cross-border restructuring and insolvency mandates.

Prior to joining Simpson Thacher, Toby served as legal counsel, on secondment, at Sculptor Capital Management.

Toby’s recent non-confidential experience, including prior to joining Simpson Thacher, includes representing:

• the Getronics group in relation to its financial restructuring, New York law bridge financing and the eventual sale of its global business (including its interests across Asia, South America, Europe and in South Africa) by way of a Dutch pre-pack sale involving a “silent” administrator;
• the trustee of the Interserve pension scheme in relation to the multinational construction business’s financial restructuring;
• the international conglomerate Steinhoff, headquartered in South Africa, regarding its restructuring by way of two U.K. company voluntary arrangements, the disposal of various valuable group assets (including in the U.S., France, the U.K. and Poland) and return of value to its creditors owed approximately €7 billion;
• the Arcadia group on its seven U.K. company voluntary arrangements and later insolvency processes (including coordinating those in Ireland and the Netherlands);
• the Toucan Energy group, the U.K.-based solar park business, in respect of its corporate structure, almost £1bn of debt and restructuring options going forward;
• the joint administrators of Avanti Communications, the U.K. satellite company, on its debt-for-equity swap implemented through pre-pack administration;
• the joint administrators of certain companies in the Global Brands Group, including on the pre-pack sale and later disposals of key international brands and U.K., Hong Kong and U.S. joint venture interests;
• the joint provisional liquidators of certain companies in the Markel CATCo group including in respect of two Bermudan schemes of arrangement and U.S. chapter 15 recognition;
• the special managers on behalf of the Official Receiver as liquidator of the Carillion group in relation to the U.K. compulsory liquidations and sales of key assets;
• House of Fraser on its leasehold, leveraged loan and bond restructuring by way of U.K. company voluntary arrangements and schemes of arrangement and the pre-packaged sale to Sports Direct; and
• Monarch Airlines, an international airline, on its 2016 recapitalisation and relicensing and subsequently its administrators in relation to its administration and the sales of key assets (include airport slots and brands).

Toby is an active participant in the international restructuring community, is a member of the Insolvency Lawyers Association and has lectured at the Queen Mary University on corporate restructuring.

Toby has received his LPC from BPP Law School. He received his LL.B. from The University of Bristol. He is admitted to practice in London.