‘Ben Ward is a strong up and coming lawyer - he has an excellent grasp of the technicals and attention to detail.’
Legal 500 2023

Overview

Ben Ward is a senior associate in Mayer Brown’s Restructuring practice in London. He has experience acting on domestic and cross-border restructurings and insolvencies for debtors, sponsors, funds, financial institutions, insolvency practitioners, CMBS special servicers, pension trustees and strategic investors in both contentious and non-contentious situations. Ben spent 10 months on secondment at EQT Credit (now part of Bridgepoint Credit) supporting the Mid-Market lending and Credit Opportunities strategies, dealing with special situations, restructurings, and mid-market direct lending.

Experience

  • Acting for Mount Street as Special Servicer of the £350m Atlas Hotels CMBS on all aspects of their role as Special Servicer, including contingency planning and negotiating a restructuring.
  • Acting for AlixPartners as administrators of the Argyll Club Group, the provider of flexible office space, on all aspects of the administration including the appointment, refinancing and exit.
  • Acting for Mount Street as Special Servicer of the £90m Maroon CMBS on all aspects of their role as Special Servicer, including enforcement and workout advice.
  • Advising the trustees of the pension schemes of various retailers in restructuring scenarios.
  • Advising Permira Debt Managers on the restructuring of loveholidays.
  • Acting for the Pizza Express group in connection with its restructuring of its senior secured and senior notes using the new UK restructuring plan procedure.*
  • Advising Travelodge Hotels Limited on the formulation and implementation of its company voluntary arrangement.*
  • Advising the ad-hoc committee of holders of convertible bonds on all aspects of the restructuring of the Steinhoff group.* 
  • Advising Agrokor d.d. (now known as Fortenova Grupa) and its special administrators in its restructuring of more than EUR 6 billion through a Croatian extraordinary administration process and associated recognition proceedings in England and across the Balkan region.*
  • Acting for PwC as administrators of Lehman Brothers Limited in the Waterfall I litigation proceedings in the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court to address a number of complex issues of insolvency law arising in the administration of Lehman Brothers’ European trading company.*
  • Acting for a large credit fund on the enforcement of its Luxembourg law security and acquisition of the business in a direct lending situation in respect of a PE-owned European telecoms group.*
  • Acting for KPMG as liquidators of an investment company in wrongful trading proceedings.* 
  • Acting for various officeholders in administration and liquidation proceedings.
  • Assisting various funds, investment banks and private equity houses in relation to their diligence of European investment opportunities in stressed and distressed transactions.

* experience gained prior to joining Mayer Brown

Admissions

  • England and Wales
  • Listed as a key lawyer for Corporate Restructuring & Insolvency, ‘Ben Ward is a strong up and coming lawyer - he has an excellent grasp of the technicals and attention to detail.’ (Legal 500 2023/24).