Oonagh Steel

Oonagh Steel is a counsel in Goodwin’s Financial Restructuring practice and has over 13 years of experience advising on a diverse range of corporate restructuring, insolvency, and finance matters. Prior to joining Goodwin, she also completed successful secondments to two major banks. Her clients include investors, creditors, debtors, purchasers, financial institutions, insolvency practitioners, and directors.

• Eastnine Studios Limited - acting for Kroll as administrators in selling an iOS smartphone and Apple watch digital training application and all related object and source code to Pure Gym in August 2021
• Bardsley Horticulture Limited - acting for the boards of the Bardsley Group as part of the solvent reorganisation and sale of shares to Camellia Plc in Summer 2021
• T0day Group - acting for Interpath as administrators appointed over the English companies in the T0day Group in selling various intellectual property assets in relation to the group’s retail strategy business via a pre-pack sale to Ocado Group Plc in March 2022
• Circle Birmingham Hospital - acting for Medical Properties Trust in respect of the insolvency of the principal contractor, Simons Construction Limited, and arranging for the completion of the hospital development by the in-coming developer Imtech
• Project Mercatus - acting for a bidder of a distressed shopping centre loan portfolio, with a total debt of over £400 million, secured against 15 shopping centers, by providing diligence on the loan and security documentation (and co-ordinating foreign counsel advice with respect to the same), helping to prepare the bid and considering and amending the form of purchase documentation
• Project Now - acting for the board of a rapid delivery service application prior to the sale of the company to a trade buyer
• Project Stay - acting for the mezzanine lender in an enforcement of its share and receivables security in order to take control of a hotel asset, where the combined secured debt value is was over £100 million
• Arena Television Limited - leading a cross border team, working with our New York partners, to recover aviation assets in the administration in the largest ever UK asset based lending fraud (which is believed to be in the region of £280 million)
• Project Stretch - acting for an award winning electronics platform which has raised over $400 million of funding throughout the company’s research period. Our role involved providing on-going trading advice and support during the repeated fundraising rounds
• Project Beans - acting for a mezzanine lender by providing advice on the terms and effect of a proposed Company Voluntary Arrangement of a hospitality business with over 800 outlets worldwide
• Project Reflection - acting for a US private equity client by providing in-depth crisis management advice following the discovery of a fraud committed by a director, which involved implementing urgent remedial measures including the appointment of a Chief Restructuring Officer, the investigation of the fraud, and restoring the stability of the business
• LionRock Capital — subject to conditions including a challenge-fee CVA, advising LionRock Capital on the proposed acquisition of a majority stake in Clarks, a UK-based, international shoe manufacturer and retailer including a £100 million investment in the business
• Partners Group — acting for the purchaser of 94 French brasserie-style restaurants through a pre-packaged administration by FTI
• Medical Properties Trust – acting for the client in relation to the £1.5 billion acquisition of 30 private hospitals in the largest UK real estate transaction of 2019. The portfolio’s financing had been arranged prior to the 2008 financial crisis and required a significant pre-acquisition debt restructuring
• Cambridge Broadband Networks Limited - Acting for CBNL and its administrators, BDO, in relation to advice to a global leader in millimetre wave fixed wireless access and backhaul solutions with operations in Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa
• Cellnovo — acting for Insulet Corporation, a large US listed client, in relation to the successful purchase of intellectual property assets from English administrators
• Utilitywise Plc — advising the board of the listed entity regarding its duties and obligations whilst trading the business during a potential equity raise and an accelerated sales process that culminated in the administration of the company*
• Evans Cycles — advising the boards of the group companies and the trading company, particularly with respect to the business trading position, potential liabilities and an accelerated sales process and subsequently acting for PwC as administrators of the trading company in selling certain of its business and assets to Sports Direct PLC*
• Project Space — acting for the asset manager in the disposal of 21 hotels, by way of both asset and share sales, the repayment of the related banking facilities and the consequent reorganisation and wind-down of the remaining corporate group*
  
• Project Parma — providing English law advice to a Canadian listed company on the corporate affairs of certain English subsidiaries and the distribution of assets prior to their solvent liquidation*
• Project Bruce — leading a large due diligence exercise for Natwest Capital Markets in connection with a substantial collateral debt obligation*
• Biffa – Advising HSBC as leader of the Coordinating Committee (in a syndicate originally of 60+ lenders) on the restructure of Biffa, which was implemented by way of a scheme of arrangement that reduced the company’s debt by more than 55% (from £1.1 billion to £520 million) and introduced a further £75 million of new money*

* Denotes experience prior to joining Goodwin

Ms. Steel is a steerco committee member of the London Network of IWIRC (International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation), co-chairing the London IWIRC Diversity and Inclusion sub-committee.

• Ms. Steel has been recognized two years consecutively by Chambers UK 2022 and 2023 as an "Associate to Watch" in the Restructuring and Insolvency category, in which clients notes her “clear and concise technical and commercial advice”
• Client testimonials from The Legal 500 UK 2022 noted that "Oonagh Steel is an excellent finance lawyer and her ability to work both new money deals and restructurings is to be commended." The 2023 edition commended Ms. Steel for demonstrating “experience and knowledge beyond [her] years of experience”

Ms. Steel's recent publications include:

• Co-Author, "Restructuring and insolvency in the life sciences sector: Q&A | Practical Law (thomsonreuters.com)," July 2022
• Contributor to the textbook with Oxford University Press entitled Restructuring Plans, Creditor Schemes and other Restructuring Tools
• Co-Author, “Pension Schemes Act 2021: The Impact of New Criminal Liability of Restructuring and Corporate Transactions,” Goodwin Insights, February 2021
• Co-Author, “Strategies for restaurants to address financial distress in the UK and US,” Restaurant Dive, November 2020
• Co-Author, “US-Based Syncreon Chooses English Scheme of Arrangement over Chapter 11 for Financial and Corporate Restructure,” Global Restructuring Review, September 2019