Corporate Debt, Turnaround & Restructuring

Our seasoned team of lawyers in the Corporate Debt, Turnaround & Restructuring sector has deep experience in supporting companies, wherever they may find themselves along the distress and recovery curve.

We also act for and support the stakeholders (particularly shareholders, investors, creditors, employees and regulators) of these companies.

Our service is comprehensive and tailored to all aspects of corporate debt recoveries, informal business turnarounds and formal restructurings. We understand the legal and regulatory landscape, and can advise on:

Corporate Debt

  • Recovery of debts (including perfection of security)
  • Forensic Investigations
  • Protective orders
  • Insolvency Enquiries
  • Piercing the corporate veil
  • Cross-border recognition proceedings

Turnaround (informal process)

  • Business Optimisation
  • Structural and operational reorganisation
  • Capital restructuring
  • Advising on risks
  • Crisis stabilisation
  • Stakeholder management
  • Board/shareholder deadlocks
  • Distressed M&A

Restructuring (formal process)

  • Compromises
  • Business rescue
  • Liquidation and sequestration proceedings
  • Cross-border insolvency and recognition proceedings

Services

Our service is comprehensive and tailored to all aspects of corporate debt recoveries, informal business turnarounds and formal restructurings. We understand the legal and regulatory landscape, and can advise on:

Corporate Debt

  • Recovery of debts (including perfection of security)
  • Forensic Investigations
  • Protective orders
  • Insolvency Enquiries
  • Piercing the corporate veil
  • Cross-border recognition proceedings

Turnaround (informal process)

  • Business Optimisation
  • Structural and operational reorganisation
  • Capital restructuring
  • Advising on risks
  • Crisis stabilisation
  • Stakeholder management
  • Board/shareholder deadlocks
  • Distressed M&A

Restructuring (formal process)

  • Compromises
  • Business rescue
  • Liquidation and sequestration proceedings
  • Cross-border insolvency and recognition proceedings

Corporate Debt, Turnaround & Restructuring Lawyers

Our Corporate Debt, Turnaround & Restructuring team provides strategy advice to boards of directors where the company is financially distressed, to ensure that the directors do not fall foul of their obligations in terms of the Company’s Act.

Our Corporate Debt, Turnaround & Restructuring Lawyers

Our Work

All

Shadow Careers

Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr is representing Shadow Careers, the South Africa-based innovative impact sourcing initiative in response to the high youth unemployment.  Our South Africa-based restructuring & insolvency team is advising Shadow Careers and Shadow Academy Global NPC on a liquidation application which was brought on an urgent basis.  The first applicant, Edwin Jacques Pietersen, was a director of Shadow Careers and still is a director of Shadow Academy.  The second applicant, Greenchild Project, was a service provider for Shadow Careers.

Our Work

Shadow Careers

Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr is representing Shadow Careers, the South Africa-based innovative impact sourcing initiative in response to the high youth unemployment.  Our South Africa-based restructuring & insolvency team is advising Shadow Careers and Shadow Academy Global NPC on a liquidation application which was brought on an urgent basis.  The first applicant, Edwin Jacques Pietersen, was a director of Shadow Careers and still is a director of Shadow Academy.  The second applicant, Greenchild Project, was a service provider for Shadow Careers.

Corporate Debt, Turnaround & Restructuring News

More news

Delinquency: The corporate reckoning of directors

The Supreme Court of Appeal’s (SCA) decision in Msibithi Investments and Others v African Legend Investment and Others ZASCA 61 is a crisp reminder that the ability to declare a director delinquent in terms of section 162 of the Companies Act 71 of 2008 (Companies Act) has real teeth. The judgment distils the core of delinquency under section 162(5)(c)(iv): egregious breaches of fiduciary duties that are neither technical nor trivial are sanctionable.

Why private equity’s zombie companies persist and how to revive them

The world of private equity (PE) is often associated with aggressive investments and lucrative exits. Yet, beneath the veneer of high-octane deals lies a darker reality: a growing number of ‘zombie companies’ lingering in PE portfolios. These are businesses that are neither thriving nor dying, barely generating enough revenue to cover their debt servicing costs, and unable to invest in growth or innovation. The continued existence of these ‘half-alive’ creatures of the market, far from being benign, poses significant challenges for investors, the broader economy, and the companies themselves. Their slow, relentless stagger is not harmless background noise, as they sap energy and eat scarce capital in bite-sized chunks.

Zombie Companies - How to spot, survive, and save the undead in business

New Halloween-themed CDH Conversations Podcast Episode!

Market recognition

  • Chambers Global 2018 - 2025 ranked us in Band 2 for restructuring/insolvency.

 

Market recognition

  • Chambers Global 2018 - 2025 ranked us in Band 2 for restructuring/insolvency.

 

Happy Clients

Chambers Global 2023

"The team were extremely responsive and commercially minded. Their strengths include effective teamwork and mindfulness of costs. They worked under very tight timelines and never once let me down."

Chambers Global 2023

The strength of the CDH team definitely lies in their sound knowledge and understanding of the law," explained one source, also praising the group's "strategic approach."

Chambers Global 2022