DLA Piper has advised the ad hoc committee of bondholders on the international US$3-billion debt restructuring of listed company CGG SA. The deal involved collaboration between DLA Piper offices in Paris, Oslo, London and the US.

The CGG Group, whose parent company CGG SA is a listed company in France, is the world leader in geoscience activities, providing geological, geophysical and reservoir capabilities to its broad base of customers mainly within the oil & gas sector. The Group has a financial debt of US$3 billion, including almost US$2 billion in bonds, spread between France, the UK, the US and Norway.

This debt restructuring is currently the largest in Europe. It is one of the most complex restructurings ever undertaken in France due to the specific cross-border structure of the group, the variety of stakeholders involved and the size of debt equitized. It is also the first time that the French and US Courts will cooperate directly, due to the simultaneous opening of a Safeguard proceeding in France and Chapter 15 and Chapter 11 proceedings in the US.

Noam Ankri, the lead partner on the case, confirmed that: "Having a team that feels equally at ease in French, US and Norwegian proceedings was instrumental in determining the right strategy for conducting negotiations that were particularly intense given the variety of stakeholders."

An agreement was reached in time for the opening of the various proceedings on June 14. It is hoped that the safeguard plan will be approved this fall.

The ad hoc committee of bondholders was also advised by Willkie Farr & Gallagher and the financial advisor was Messier Maris & Associates.