LG corporate recovery partner Tom Withyman advised the buyer of troubled high-street retailer Adams Childrenswear at the end of its administration process.
LG ;had ;previously worked with Adams’ former owner John Shannon, an Irish businessman who bought the retailer out of administration two years ago and who has now bought the business back for a second time.
In early 2007, Shannon, then advised by Hammonds, bought Adams as part of a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)-arranged prepack administration after its owner, Myriad Childrenswear, got into financial difficulty. PwC called on DLA Piper partner Simon Neilson-Clark for advice on that occasion.
When Adams was put into administration in January this year (The Lawyer, 12 January), PwC’s long history of working with Hammonds in the regions – ;as well as the law firm’s link with Shannon – saw administrator Rob Hunt turn to the firm’s Birmingham office for advice.
Hammonds insolvency partner Devinder Singh, who led the advice for PwC out of Birmingham, said: “Essentially it was born out of the relationship we had with PwC. Shannon had no objection, so we went ahead with that instruction.”
Singh explained that the firm’s relationship with Adams was also based in the regions, with the corporate practices in Leeds and Birmingham having close ties to the business.
“Off the back of that they approached me originally in connection with this insolvency, though at the time it was hoped they would be able to trade out of it,” he added.
Bank of Ireland subsidiary Burdale was one of the financiers that instructed PwC to investigate Adams’ accounts at the end of last year.
Singh explained that although Adams paid off its debts to Burdale by Christmas 2008, it became clear at that point that an insolvency process would follow and that Hammonds would take the advisory role for the administrator.
