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ACADEMIC PROGRAM

Legal track #2 | Session 3 - Navigating Insolvency Proceedings in Cross-Border M&A: Legal and Strategic Considerations

Organized by the Corporate and M&A and the Insolvency Commissions

DATE & TIME​

LOCATION

🗓️ Wednesday, August 27
🕐 10:00-11:00 EDT

📍Waldorf Astoria

DESCRIPTION

What happens when a thriving business suddenly collapses? Enter the court-appointed ‘designated survivor’ aka the bankruptcy trustee thrust into power as the unelected ruler of the ruins. Tasked with salvaging value and making critical decisions, the trustee and its team of global lawyers must navigate complex cross-border insolvency laws, conflicting creditor interests, and high-stakes distressed M&A transactions. This panel will explore the challenges of restructuring and selling distressed assets across jurisdictions, highlighting the evolving legal landscape and the skills future insolvency and corporate professionals must master in an increasingly globalized world.

THIS SESSION IS SPONSORED BY

Speakers

Marcel Jakob

Schellenberg Wittmer, Switzerland

Bio

Marcel Jakob is a partner in Schellenberg Wittmer’s mergers & acquisitions group in Zurich, Switzerland. He focuses on domestic and cross-border M&A transactions including asset deals and restructuring transactions (incl. complex carve-outs). He is experienced in advising investors and companies in times of financial distress, including court-approved restructurings during administration/moratorium (distressed M&A).

Elena Pintea-Pushkin

Racine, France

Bio

Elena has extensive experience in representing companies at critical stages of their development, with a particular focus on mergers and acquisitions and strategic alliances in France and abroad.

She advises companies on a wide range of general corporate matters and is particularly active in the life sciences, real estate and industrial sectors.

Eugenia Siracusa

International Monetary Fund, USA

Bio

Ms. Eugenia Siracusa is a Counsel in the Legal Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington DC, United States. Before joining the IMF, Ms. Siracusa worked as Legal Officer in the Legal and Enforcement Department (Legal Unit) of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) in Paris, France. Prior to this Ms. Siracusa was an Associate in the Corporate and Financial Services Department of Law Firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP and a Teaching Assistant in International Law at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, both located in Milan, Italy.  Ms. Siracusa also worked in the Legal Service of the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium. She received her LL.M. from the University College of London (UCL) in the United Kingdom, and her Masters Degree in Law from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy. Ms. Siracusa is a solicitor admitted to practice law in England and Wales

SESSION COORDINATORS AND MODERATORS

Luke van de Laar

Kemperink Maarschalkerweerd Wouters N.V., Netherlands

Bio

Luke van de Laar is a partner at Kemperink Maarschalkerweerd Wouters who specializes in cross-border M&A, corporate takeovers, joint ventures, private equity investments, and corporate governance matters. With a strong track record in executing and overseeing complex international transactions and corporate governance initiatives, he has provided strategic legal counsel to a diverse range of clients across the technology, healthcare, agri-food, and manufacturing industries. His clientele includes both privately and publicly held corporations, as well as financial sponsors, whom he advises on a wide array of corporate and transactional matters.

Johannes Egelhof

bnt attorneys in CEE, Germany

Bio

Johannes is a Senior Lawyer at bnt Attorneys in CEE, specializing in International Trade and Supply Chains, M&A and Corporate Restructurings. He advises and represents national and international clients across various sectors, particularly on supply-chain and distribution matters and general commercial law. Often on an ongoing basis as an external in-house counsel to SMEs or Start-Ups, but also project-based within transactions or critical investments and supply-chain decisions.
As a member of his firm’s Insolvency and M&A Practice Groups, Johannes advises on cross-border corporate restructurings and (distressed) M&A transactions.
His industry experience is especially relevant to industrial manufacturing, hospitality, retail, automotive, food and pharmaceuticals, real estate, energy, and infrastructure.
Johannes’ professional background is built on a law degree focusing on tax and corporate law from Bayreuth, Germany, and additional business education, “Wirtschaftsjurist Universität Bayreuth,” specializing in accounting and IFRS.