The Freshfields Podcast

In our latest episode of “No Worse Off,” we take a deep dive into one of Europe's most dynamic and distinctive restructuring markets: France. Host Emma Gateaud is joined by Marc Sénéchal a highly respected French court-appointed conciliateur and mandataire ad hoc and Freshfields Paris restructuring partner Guilhem Bremond and counsel Antoine Rueda.

Listen in as our panel discusses recent ‘jumbo’ cases and France’s unique two-phase restructuring process, which combines conciliation and sauvegarde accélérée. The discussion highlights how the 2021 reform enhanced the efficiency and predictability of the system, as well as the pivotal role of the court-appointed officer in building stakeholder consensus, ultimately ensuring greater fairness and reducing the risk of challenges.

Stay tuned for more insights into the world of restructuring and thank you for listening to "No Worse Off."

The UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, has delivered the Autumn Budget 2025.

In her much-anticipated second Budget, the Chancellor announced a broad spectrum of tax measures which she said were designed both to secure public finances and make the UK tax system fairer. After much press speculation, rumours and reported U-turns, there is now some welcome clarity on how the government intends to balance the books, with the largest revenue raising measure being a stealth tax increase through the freezing of income tax thresholds. Outside of the headline grabbing measures, the government has published details on new and ongoing business tax reform measures, a number of which will be included in the upcoming Finance Bill.

In our latest podcast, Josh Critchlow speaks to May Smith, Emily Szasz and Sam Withnall from our London tax team about the smorgasbord of business tax measures they found most noteworthy in the Autumn Budget 2025, including:

• headline tax revenue raising measures including extending the freeze on income tax/NICs thresholds and raising income tax rates on dividend, savings and property income;
• the introduction of a new ‘UK listing relief’ from SDRT, providing a 3 year exemption from the 0.5% SDRT charge on agreements to transfer securities of newly listed companies on a UK regulated market;
• confirmation that an ‘Advance Tax Certainty Service’ for major investment projects in the UK will be launched in July 2026;
• changes to the capital allowances regime, including a new 40% first-year allowance and reduction of writing down allowances for main rate expenditure;
• broadening an anti-avoidance rule applicable to capital gains rollover relief on share exchanges and reorganisations;
• an update on proposals to reform behavioural tax penalties;
• revisions to the UK VAT grouping rules applicable to overseas establishments;
• confirmation that a permanent revenue-based oil and gas price mechanism will take effect on expiry of the existing Energy Profits Levy;
• additional measures to tackle tax avoidance; and
• measures not included in the Budget announcements, including the rumoured ‘partnership NICs’ and exit tax.

In our latest episode of “No Worse Off,” our cross-jurisdictional restructuring and capital solutions team, Nick Fortune, Francesco Lombardo and Valentina Armaroli dive into the innovative capital solutions and restructuring tools reshaping the Italian market.

Italy is quickly emerging as a key market, offering a wealth of opportunities for global credit and other investors. Listen in as our team discusses Italy’s efforts to align with international best practices and deploy tools that offer fresh, dynamic ways to deploy money in Italy.

Stay tuned for more insights into the world of restructuring and thank you for listening to "No Worse Off".

In this episode of the MedTech Podcast, partner Vinita Kailasanath speaks with Stephanie Toney, Chief Business Officer at Diatiro Health, about the company’s mission to transform kidney transplantation. They explore the importance of equity and patient access in MedTech. Stephanie also shares her perspective on emerging trends such as AI, digital health, and precision medicine—and their potential to improve outcomes and expand access for underserved populations.

As retail investor access to Private Credit gains global momentum, stay informed with our latest podcast.

Tim Clark, Mary Lavelle (Global Co-Chairs, Private Funds and Secondaries) and Ivet Bell (Private Funds and Secondaries partner) delve into key market and regulatory shifts, including potential US regulatory changes that will facilitate "retail investor” investment in Private Capital investments through 401(k)s.

In the latest episode of “No Worse Off,” the Freshfields restructuring team—Emma Gateaud, Nick Fortune, Madlyn Primoff, and Jamie Murray-Jones—delve into the legal, strategic and market implications of cutting-edge restructuring tactics.

From up-tiering strategies to intercreditor agreement debt release mechanics, the episode features insights drawn from the recent Hunkemöller and Selecta transactions.

Stay tuned for more insights into the world of restructuring in 2025 and thank you for listening to "No Worse Off".

The English Arbitration Act 2025 came into force on 1 August, introducing welcome and long-awaited reforms to the English Arbitration Act 1996.  In this bite-size podcast, the head of Freshfields’ London arbitration team Oliver Marsden, counsel Ashley Jones and associate Rebecca Zard highlight the key reforms — including provisions on summary dismissal, interim relief against third parties, court orders enforcing emergency arbitrator relief, and the law governing arbitration agreements – and discuss how this will benefit disputing parties and ensure that London retains its position as a premier destination for international arbitration.

The Court of Appeal’s decision to overturn the sanction of Petrofac’s restructuring plans marked a pivotal moment in restructuring law, with significant implications for how future restructurings will be approached in practice.

In the latest episode of our "No Worse Off" podcast series, restructuring team members Lindsay Hingston, Craig Montgomery and Caroline Platt, unpack this landmark decision, providing insights on out-of-the-money creditors, fair allocation of benefits, evidential requirements and the paramount role of robust negotiations.

Stay tuned for more insights into the world of restructuring and thank you for listening to "No Worse Off".

Keeping you up to date on executive compensation matters.

In this podcast series, the Freshfields People & Reward team discusses key topics in the executive reward space for publicly listed and private companies in 2025, including transatlantic considerations, ways to structure executive incentives and the developing trend for democratising equity arrangements.

In the fifth episode of this series, Employee Claims, partner David Mendel is joined by Harriet Gaillard, counsel in the London People & Reward team, to discuss the various legal claims that can be brought by employees and former employees under share plan and bonus arrangements. The episode discusses breach of contract, exercise of discretion, discrimination, unfair dismissal, TUPE transfers and restrictive covenants.

In our latest podcast episode of "No Worse Off," Freshfields partners Lindsay Hingston, Ken Baird, and Emma Gateaud, along with senior associate Emilio Salice, come together for an in-depth discussion as the Restructuring Plan (RP) turns five.

Drawing on their extensive experience, our speakers share valuable insights into the dynamic landscape of restructuring plans. They delve into the powerful cross-class cram down mechanism, the evolving use of new debt as a cramming class, and a realistic assessment of the rising litigation risk in contentious RP proceedings.

Stay tuned for more insights into the world of restructuring in 2025, and thank you for listening to "No Worse Off".