Kathryn Sutherland-Smith

Of Counsel

Sydney + 61.2.8272.0738 Melbourne + 61.3.9101.6800

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Kathryn Sutherland-Smith is an experienced insolvency and restructuring lawyer. She strives to provide clients with innovative commercial solutions but is also adept working in contentious and litigious situations. Kathryn is qualified to practice law in Australia and the United States and regularly advises financial institutions, companies, directors, sponsors, and insolvency practitioners. She has more than a decade of experience structuring and implementing complex corporate reorganizations through informal workouts, schemes of arrangement, voluntary administrations, receiverships, liability management transactions, and proceedings under chapters 11 and 15 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

Highlights of Kathryn's recent company-side experience include representing each of Hertz, Swissport, and Constellation on their multibillion dollar global reorganizations; providing safe harbour advice on a number of high-profile situations; and advising the administrators of Tahmoor Coal.

Kathryn's key creditor-side experience includes representing the receivers and managers of a major Australian consumer credit business; Woolworths Group in connection with a strategic acquisition implemented through a chapter 11 process; U.S. and other offshore funds in connection with the distressed acquisition of Australian businesses, including Sargon Capital (pre-Jones Day); and an ad hoc group of bondholders in the LATAM Airlines bankruptcy (pre-Jones Day).

Kathryn is a member of the International Insolvency Institute (III) (Class XV), the Turnaround Management Association (TMA) Committee (Sydney), and is a professional member of the Australian Restructuring Insolvency & Turnaround Association (ARITA).

Experience

  • Acted for voluntary administrators of Tahmoor Coal in all aspects of administration, including contested winding up application brought by unsecured creditor in Supreme Court of New South WalesJones Day acted for the voluntary administrators of Tahmoor Coal in all aspects of the administration, including a contested winding up application brought by an unsecured creditor in the Supreme Court of New South Wales.
  • Corpay acquires GPS Capital MarketsJones Day advised Corpay, Inc. in the acquisition of GPS Capital Markets, LLC and its subsidiaries, a group that provides business-to-business cross-border and treasury management solutions, in Corpay’s third largest deal ever.
  • Joint Administrators of The Body Shop International Limited (in administration) sell business and assetsJones Day advised Geoffrey Rowley, Anthony Wright and Alastair Massey of FRP Advisory in their capacity as joint administrators of The Body Shop International Limited (in administration), an appointee of the shareholder, Aurelius Investment Advisory Limited, in connection with the trading administration and subsequent sale of the company's business and assets.
  • Woolworths Group Limited acquires assets of Takeoff Technologies, Inc. through 363 sale credit bid of postpetition loans avoiding cessation of certain automated business operationsJones Day represented major Australian retailer, Woolworths Group Limited, in connection with a series of transactions to acquire software from its vendor, Takeoff Technologies, Inc., which filed for chapter 11 in May 2024.
  • Journey Beyond Group obtains A$495 million financingJones Day advised the Journey Beyond Group on a A$495 million syndicated facility, arranged and underwritten by Jefferies Finance LLC.
  • Deutsche Bank and private credit lenders refinance National Group via issuance of A$210 million in Senior Secured NotesJones Day acted for incoming senior lenders Deutsche Bank AG, New York Branch, and three private credit lenders in connection with the refinancing of the National Group, a leading supplier of heavy earthmoving and mining equipment in Australia which also provides end-to-end mining services to leading resource companies throughout Australia and internationally, via the issuance of A$210 million in Senior Secured Notes.
  • Non-bank lender defends against litigation in connection with lending to finance M&A transactionJones Day successfully represented a non-bank lender in multi-party litigation in the Supreme Court of New South Wales in connection with its lending to the purchaser in a M&A transaction, including under the financial assistance provisions in the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth).
  • WEG acquires industrial electric motors and generators business from Regal Rexnord CorporationJones Day advised WEG S.A. in the $400 million acquisition of the industrial electric motors and generators business of Regal Rexnord Corporation.
    • View All

    April 2025 Commentary

    The Regulation of Private Markets in Australia—Where to Next?

    January 2025 Newsletters

    Business Restructuring Review Vol. 24 No. 1 | January–February 2025

    January 2025 Newsletters

    Filing of Adversary Proceeding Against Chapter 15 Debtor Violated Automatic Stay, and "Home Court" Rule Does Not Apply in Chapter 15 Cases

    March 2024 Alert

    Singapore Court Issues Landmark Decision Recognizing Indonesian Restructuring Plan

    September 2023 Newsletters

    Business Restructuring Review September-October 2023 | Vol. 22 No. 5

    Additional Publications

    • August 2022
      Two Sides of the Same Coin? Cryptoassets and Estate Property in Bankruptcy, American Bankruptcy Institute
    • December 2018
      A Trans-Pacific Tale of Carrots and Sticks: Lessons for Australia from the United States' Experience of the Ipso Facto Stay, Insolvency Law Journal
    • December 2016
      Evidentiary Challenges for the Insolvency Practitioner: the Use of Public Examination Transcripts at Trial, Insolvency Law Journal

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