Christophe discussed the topic of The Evolution of Technology Adoption in Bankruptcy & Restructuring Opportunities at the ALB Virtual Cross-border Debt Restructuring Forum 2020 held on 3 September 2020. While we weren’t able to get through the questions, we solicited answers from Christophe afterwards.

Note: Intralinks is hosting a webinar on Deal Flow Predictor: Q4 2020 - You're Not Alone In These Extraordinary Times on 17 September. You can register here. Or view more details here.

Q: What is your advice to manage due diligence under current situations?

A: Due diligence does not change regardless of situation. The only difference is the need to find the best buyer in the quickest and shortest amount of time and one of the ways is to have a single platform for interested parties to access all your essential and important information for divestitures and asset sales.

Q: Would you see more government interventions for insolvency cases?

A: Governments has been injecting stimulus packages into local businesses not just in the region but globally. In Singapore, for instance, MOF, IRAS and MAS have put in place real estate investment trusts listed on s-REITs with greater flexibility to manage cash.

Q: Are you seeing many cross-border insolvency cases?

A: In general, we're not seeing very many cross-border cases, but we're just not seeing as many cross-border deals as we have in the past anyway as it relates to wider M&A. Yes, cross-border is up from Q2, but what's really been going on have been handled at the local level.

Once travel restrictions are lifted, there'll be more bidders (or sharks as you can say!) who will be more at ease without having to do virtual due diligence.

There still remain plenty of relief packages which create a “wait and see” approach. We have not ruled out an “avalanche” of restructuring activity in Oct/Nov.

Q: What are you hearing from your clients in terms of deal flow through the next quarter?

A: Due diligence just can’t go ahead as per normal and the mood is a little sombre.

Beyond S.E. Asia and N. Asia, which I know are where most of the audience was from, this is what I can share for what's happening around Asia from our perspective:

From my team in Asia-Pacific, we know that in Japan – The overall state of current domestic M&A deal flow is likely to be somewhere between flat to up slightly compared to 3 months ago.

In India – there is a shift in the way business is done with no physical meetings, no site visits, and it’s heavily affecting deal closures as corporates are cautious not to fall prey to reduced valuations, and investors are buying their time to vet deals and the longer-term effects of COVID.

In Australia – there has been lots of caution. Increased provisions and clawbacks in purchase agreements.

SUMMARY ON INTRALINKS' PRESENTATION AT THE ALB VIRTUAL CROSS-BORDER DEBT RESTRUCTURING FORUM 2020

The Intralinks platform enables secure communications questions, and exchange of documents between debtors, lenders, creditor advisors, accountants, analysts and legal counsels on a single platform for any Bankruptcy and Restructuring deal.

There is no doubt that COVID caused steep rises in the Devaluation of Assets, Credit Downgrades, Market Cycles, Liquidity Shortage, and Covenant Breaches are the driving factors of restructuring and insolvency in the past half year.  

Key Pain Points of our clients:

• MultiParty Document sharing – Lapses in sharing documents across multiple parties
• Offline Customer support – fast paces nature of restructuring deals requires immediate support
• Audit – court supervision requirements of having complete document list & audit trail submitted
• Time consuming document management – voluminous administrative tasks with critical information and communication

Through Covid-19, clients are trusting Intralinks thanks to: 

• Enhanced transparency
• Zoom Video Integration
• Unparalleled customer support
• Quick implementation
• White Label branding capabilities 

Contact Christophe for any questions you may have on this topic
Christophe Montane
Senior Vice President, APAC Sales, Intralinks
 cmontane@intralinks.com

 https://www.linkedin.com/in/christophemontane/

Christophe joined Intralinks in 2019 as SVP – APAC Sales, overseeing 13 countries and the fastest-growing region of the business. Christophe’s mission is to lead the sales and marketing organization to a journey of innovation and continued growth to become the leading technology enabler for strategic transactions.

He brings to the team from prior roles two decades of experience in the technology and outsourcing sectors providing thought leadership and execution capability required for key large clients in their digital transformation programs.