(Bloomberg) -- Lawfirm Linklaters LLP has hired Richard Woodworth as a partner based in Hong Kong for its Asia restructuring and insolvency team.
Woodworth starts his position Monday and will report to Asia regional managing partner William Liu, he said in an interview. Woodworth joins Linklaters from Allen & Overy LLP, where Woodworth founded the firm’s Asia Pacific restructuring practice and co-headed it.
China’s Restructuring Firms Staff Up for Record Wave of Defaults
Financial and legal advisers have been expanding their Asia restructuring teams faster than ever to keep pace with growing demand in the region. China’s unprecedented property crisis, which has triggered a record wave of offshore debt defaults, are driving a pick-up in cases and a fight for talent. Linklaters is among the advisory firms involved in some property developers’ restructuring cases, according to public filings.
Liu said he continues to see rising demand from the sector, as the property market is still deteriorating and the market has yet to bottom.
Even for the ongoing cases, “many of the high-profile names that are already in restructuring still have a long way to go on the deals, and there are going to be new roles developing on many of those situations as well,” Woodworth also said in the interview. “A number of the names may end up requiring the use of provisional liquidation or a restructuring officer to create moratorium protection. Right there that’s a major new role on these deals.”
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