KWM EUME collapse could cost creditors £33.5m

Barclays, which has both secured and unsecured debt, stands to lose the most

KWM EUME collapse could cost creditors £33.5m
Various unsecured creditors are set to lose £33.5m (about $54m) due to the demise of the Europe, UK, and Middle East partnership of King & Wood Mallesons, administrator Quantuma said in an initial report.

Unsecured creditors are owed £37m, but only £3.5m was at hand last 17 January, reported Legal Business, which has seen the report. With both secured and unsecured debt, Barclays is said to have a valid claim of more than £16.5m, £13m of which is unsecured.

Trade creditors are owed £6.8m. Among them, owed the most money are administrators AlixPartners, property consultants Knight Frank and Mace Macro, Ukrainian law firm Lexwell, and LexisNexis.

The legacy SJ Berwin partnership is also said to owe just over £3m for premises, £985,000 to HM Revenue and Customs, and £12.6m to former members of the LLP.

It is still unknown how much of these debts can be recovered.

The offloading of parts of the business has resulted in recoveries of £6.7m, while administration costs is said to now be at £1.6m.

Quantuma was paid £255,172 between 17 January and 10 March. The restructuring and recovery firm expects their total bill to be £1.3m.


Related stories:
‘No termination clause’ at KWM
Former KWM EU partners urged to back ‘undue hardship’ fund for staff

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