Experience
Kate joined Grant Thornton Ireland in 2016, having spent almost 6 years working in Corporate Recovery in Western Australia.
Kate is a Director in our Transaction Advisory Services team and acts as the Engagement Lead on a number of high profile, complex restructuring assignments, with a focus on Cross Border and International engagements. Kate manages a number of our Offshore Investments and works with Grant Thornton offices across the network - including Isle of Man, Bermuda, Gibraltar, and Cyprus. Kate also sits on our Grant Thornton European Restructuring Panel.
Kate’s industry experience includes Financial Services, Insurance, Mining Services, Construction, Agriculture, Pharma and Life Sciences and spans a wide range of assignments - including Receiver and Manager engagements, Liquidations (Solvent & Insolvent) Examinerships and Schemes of Arrangements. In addition, Kate has advised the Revenue Commissioner, a number of State agencies and private stakeholders with regards to their rights and options concerning both formal and informal restructuring matters.
Key Projects:
- The examinerships of Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals. One of the largest restructurings to avail of examinership process in Ireland, run in conjunction with a Chapter 11 process and restructuring over $3bn of debt.
- The liquidation and subsequent schemes of arrangement of two Irish special purpose vehicles in the restructuring of €1bn debt held by subsidiaries of Indonesia headquartered Asia Pulp and Paper Group. The schemes were recognised under Chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy code.
- The examinership of oilfield services group Weatherford International plc, which facilitated a scheme of arrangement between the company and its international creditors pursuant to Part 10 of the Irish Companies Act . The examinership was run in parallel with U.S. Chapter 11 proceedings and a provisional liquidation in Bermuda.
In conjunction with her work on international assignments, Kate has also managed:
- The Administration of Ireland’s former largest insurance company, Quinn Insurance.
- The work out of a NAMA "Top 10" Borrower with total debts in excess of €1.3 billion across a variety of jurisdiction.
- The preparation of Independent Expert Reports.
- A portfolio of complex multi-jurisdictional liquidations, involving hundreds of employees- including the Treasury Holdings and Spencer Dock Groups, OpenHydro Group, Suir Pharma and Bio-Medical Research.
- The successful turn-around of a Perth-based manufacturer of high quality industrial and mining vehicles from Voluntary Administration to reinstatement to official quotation on the ASX.
- The Voluntary Administration of a number of large Australian mining/mining service companies with a total of over 3,000 employees and total debts of over $100 million.
Kate is the founding Chair of IWIRC Ireland and a member of Restructuring & Insolvency Ireland (“RII”).
