Matt Smith is a Senior Managing Director with Teneo in London, having joined Teneo as part of its purchase of Deloitte’s UK Restructuring business.

Matt has 25 years experience working with stakeholders and management of corporates suffering from under-performance or financial distress.  Assignments have included formal insolvencies, strategic reviews of troubled businesses on behalf of lenders and investors, and working with management teams to refinance, sell, turnaround or exit underperforming businesses.

Selected Project Experience

• Arcadia – Joint administrator for the Arcadia Group, including 8 brands and across 1,819 trading units in the UK and 53 overseas.
• Carpetright – One of only a small number of CVAs launched by a PLC. CVA launched in conjunction with, and conditional upon, a successful public equity raise.
• Monsoon Accessorise (2019) – CVA and restructuring of capital structure.
• Gaucho – CVA feasibility and contingency planning resulting in being appointed as administrators for the Group. Whilst trading the business a CVA was used to facilitate a sale of the business to exit the administration and protect valuable leases.
• LA Fitness – CVA accompanied by a debt for equity swap by lenders and subsequent sale of the business.
• PaperlinX – Strategic review, accelerated M&A, contingency planning and subsequent insolvency of UK and European operations of a global distribution business. The M&A process resulted in five separate transactions, covering seven entities across five jurisdictions.
• Aston Student Village – Business review and sale (by pre-pack administration) of a major student accommodation provider.
• Blockbuster – Joint administrator of the DVD / games rental retailer.
• Numerous options analysis and CVA feasibility studies for confidential clients in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors over the last three years.