Business 'Doctors' Honored for Work on Deep Ocean Group

Business advisory specialists, AlixPartners, honored by TMA for 'International Turnaround of the Year' for their work at DeepOcean Group.

AlixPartners, the global business-advisory firm, has been honored by the Turnaround Management Association for its work, in concert with other advisors, at the company now known as DeepOcean Group Holding AS, previously the Trico Marine Group. The AlixPartners team, led by John Castellano, managing director, was cited for its contributions in the highly successful effort, which is the winner of the TMA's "Turnaround of the Year: International Company" award for 2012.

The Norwegian-registered DeepOcean Group is an integrated provider of subsea, trenching and marine-support vessels and services, including to the oil and gas industry, and has a global presence including in the North Sea, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Brazil, Southeast Asia and Australia. 

To execute the turnaround, the team had to overcome complex and contentious intercreditor negotiations and litigation, against a backdrop of a liquidity crisis brought on by a deteriorating operating environment, an extremely high debt burden ($1.4 billion in total) and rapidly increasing internal costs. 

Results included a consensual debt-for-equity exchange with 99.9% all noteholders tendering their notes for conversion, as well as the creation of a new credit facility with new equity-holders.

"AlixPartners' unique mix of resources for successfully tackling complex international assignments, as well as our expertise in the maritime industry, really shone through in this engagement," said Peter Fitzsimmons, president of the Americas at AlixPartners and co-lead of the firm's Turnaround & Restructuring Services unit. "In accomplishing so much, including the virtually unanimous debt-for-equity exchange, in this contentious cross-border case, our entire team at DeepOcean proved once again that AlixPartners is the firm clients can turn to worldwide to help them solve the thorniest of challenges."


Also recognized by the TMA for their work on the DeepOcean engagement were: John E. Mitchell, Vinson & Elkins LLP;  David Hilty, Houlihan Lokey; David Ying, Evercore; Andrew Rosenberg, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP; Joel H. Levitin, Cahill Gordon Reindel LLP; Richard Sjøqvist, Bugge, Arentz-Hansen & Rasmussen; and Robert Dehney, Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell LLP.