Mayer Brown secures City role for administrators as Ethel Austin files again
Mayer Brown’s City team has been appointed to advise the administrators of clothing chain Ethel Austin, which has been put into administration for the fourth time since 2008.
London restructuring, bankruptcy and insolvency co-head Ashley Katz is leading the US firm’s team advising Philip Duffy and Sarah Bell of Duff & Phelps on the case, which sees around 500 jobs put at risk. The administrators were appointed earlier this month.
The north England retailer, which had around 300 stores in 2008, first filed for administration that year, later scaling back to its current count of 48 stores.
The third administration last year ended when entrepreneur Sue Townsend’s company Ashloch bought the chain.
The instruction follows a flurry of restructuring work for firms in the City, with Mayer Brown’s Katz earlier this year advising the administrators of fashion chain Fenn Wright Manson, Zolfo Cooper partners Peter Holder, Peter Saville and Simon Wilson.
Kennedys won a role earlier this month advising the administrators of Town Centre Restaurants, the company behind Café Giardino and Auberge (16 July 2012), while Linklaters capitalised on its relationship with PricewaterhouseCoopers partner Mike Jervis to scoop the job acting for the administrators of Game Group after advising a consortium of the retailer’s lenders (30 March 2012).
