Restructuring
When a company goes through a crisis, the decisions taken in the first hundred days shape what comes next. Arcadia advises principals under stress, with the conviction that a path almost always exists which preserves the company and the capital.
In restructuring, the principals who come through are not the ones who got lucky. They are the ones who took five hard decisions in the first ninety days. The others let the company degrade over time, lose their negotiation levers one by one, and end up enduring an outcome none of them would have chosen.
When a company goes through a crisis, the decisions taken in the first hundred days shape what comes next. Too often, urgency leads to imposed arbitrations: forced sale, excessive dilution, governance lost. Arcadia Partners advises principals under stress, with the conviction that a path almost always exists which preserves the company, the capital of historical shareholders and the interests of creditors.
The situations we handle resemble these. An industrial mid-market company emerging from a major investment whose returns are slow to come, and whose cash position becomes uncertain six months out. A majority shareholder having to refinance an LBO debt reaching maturity in a deteriorated market, with no certainty that the original conditions will be honoured. A company whose financial covenants are under stress and which sees its bank pool tighten quarter after quarter. A forced sale to organise under time pressure, preserving what can be preserved for the seller and for the teams.
We work upstream of legal proceedings in the vast majority of cases. Our role is to avoid collective proceedings, or, when those are unavoidable, to structure a safeguard or restructuring plan that maximises operational continuity.
The first week of the mission is dedicated to a rapid diagnosis: thirteen-week cash forecast, mapping of creditors, legal analysis of guarantees, identification of available levers. We deliver to the principal and the supervisory board or the board of directors a summary report with the options and their respective implications.
Then comes the renegotiation work: with the bank pool to reschedule maturities, with shareholders for a possible recapitalisation, with new investors if external capital is needed. In the most critical situations, we work in coordination with an ad hoc agent or a conciliator.
Fixed-fee mission with a success fee linked to the achievement of objectives (debt rescheduling, capital injection, return to a positive cash position). Typical length: three to nine months.
Our commitment, on these files, is to defend the company, the historical shareholders and the legitimacy of the principal at the same time. None of these three should come out of the process destroyed. The earlier a crisis is taken on, the more options remain. If your company is going through a difficult patch, call before the market notices.
Explore the other practice areas
A sale, a succession, a fundraising. Or a question you have not yet settled.
Let us discuss it in confidence.
Request a meeting+33 (0)6 07 11 42 54First conversation confidential and without commitment.
