Sarah Hilton

She has extensive experience across a broad range of transactional and advisory insolvency matters, supporting clients through business-critical scenarios and helping to deliver pragmatic, commercially focused solutions.

Sarah advises lenders, insolvency practitioners and corporate clients on insolvency processes, security and enforcement issues, distressed debt matters, formal insolvency appointments and corporate restructuring transactions. She works closely with clients across a variety of sectors and is known for providing practical advice that balances legal risk with commercial objectives.

Sarah has strong connections across the major clearing and other large banks in London in light of her consistent and professional advice to clients and the completion of a secondment with a major UK bank, giving her valuable client-side experience.

Additional sector specific expertise

Sarah has experience advising on the restructuring and distressed insolvency of companies within the leisure, food and drink sector, having recently advised on a significant insolvency of a franchisee fast-food chain with over 100 sites.

Sarah has experience advising on the restructuring and distressed insolvency of companies within the retail and consumer goods sector, regularly advising clients in the context of directors' duties and, where necessary, subsequent pre-pack administration sales of businesses within the sector.

Sarah has significant experience in the financial services sector and is a trusted advisor across the major clearing and other large banks in London in the context of restructuring debt, enhancing security and advising lenders in a distressed customer context, including in relation to specialist charity, franchise and agricultural borrowing and security packages. Sarah has valuable client-side experience following completion of a secondment with a major UK bank, allowing her to deliver pragmatic, commercially focused solutions.

Jurisdiction: England & Wales

• Advising a major UK lender on a distressed borrower group operating in the technology sector, including reviewing complex lending and security arrangements, advising on enforcement and security enhancement options, and supporting a subsequent debt sale process.
• Acting for the proposed and subsequently appointed joint administrators on a complex pre-pack administration sale of a multi-company fast-food franchisee group with over 100 sites, requiring extensive stakeholder management and cross-practice coordination.
• Advising joint administrators (and subsequently liquidators) on their appointment in relation to an art gallery, involving complex asset recovery and ownership disputes and investigations to maximise returns to creditors.
• Advising a major international syndicated lender group on cross-border insolvency processes and navigating debt recovery and stakeholder management in connection with a significant international business in the clean energy sector.
• Advising lenders on distressed lending and security enforcement matters involving charities, franchise businesses and agricultural sector borrowers, including security reviews, enforcement strategy and recovery planning.