In the United States, Lumileds recently agreed on a composition with its principal creditors. Lumileds is a global leader in LED lighting solutions for the automotive and telecommunications sectors.

The composition reduces the company’s debt from USD 1.7 billion to USD 400 million, bringing its Chapter 11 proceedings to a successful close. Chapter 11 proceedings are a US instrument allowing companies to continue their operations while drafting a composition for repayment of their creditors. The creditors then vote on the composition, which is subject to court approval.

As part of the restructuring, the company changed hands: using a debt-for-equity swap, ownership of the Lumileds group passed from Apollo and Philips to a group of institutional investors, including Anchorage Capital Group, Nut Tree Capital Management and Cerberus Capital Management. The restructuring also involved an additional USD 275 million capital injection.

During this intensive process, Lumileds was advised by Houthoff and Latham & Watkins. The investors were advised by Gibson Dunn and Loyens & Loeff. Former owners Apollo and Philips were advised by Paul Weiss and De Brauw, respectively. Deutsche Bank, as the security agent, was represented by NautaDutilh.

The team from Houthoff was made up of Alexander Kaarls, Paul de Vries, Thomas de Rave, Marijn van Horen, Sylvia Dikmans, Wieger Kop, Khalid el Moussaoui, Jeroen Vossenberg, Nadia Nartey-Wemegah, Aniek Faber, Wijnand van Peelen, Christiaan Zijderveld, Joost den Hollander, Joep Meester, Anne Sleurink, Willem Liedenbaum, Kasper van der Sanden and Naomi Dempsey.