Marcel Windt has been practicing as a restructuring and insolvency lawyer since 1991. He spent 25 years at Houthoff, where he primarily focused on financial crisis situations requiring a certain sophistication. Highlight engagements included acting as bankruptcy trustee of Enron and KPNQwest, assisting the Dutch Railways in resolving the issues related to the Highspeed concession to Brussels, and representing Dr. Bondi, the Italian government-appointed trustee of Parmalat. In 2016, Marcel was part of the team that founded Windt Le Grand Leeuwenburgh.
Throughout his career, Marcel has been appointed in more than 150 different situations as a bankruptcy trustee, receiver in suspension of payments proceedings, pre-pack administrator, silent trustee over financial companies, and solvent liquidator. With this experience, he has earned a reputation as a trusted advisor for companies facing severe financial distress as well.
His recent experience includes:
International:
- Representing the management participation in the IHC Merwede restructuring.
- Serving as independent chairman of the Steinhoff Recovery Foundation, which oversees the Global Settlement between publicly listed Steinhoff, Deloitte, and the directors' insurers on one side, and the Active Claimant Groups representing tens of thousands of affected shareholders on the other.
- Assisting the Dutch management of an insurance company in the option analysis, the stabilisation, and the subsequent refinancing its Swiss parent company.
- Handling liquidation and forensic investigation as trustee of the Rotterdam Islamic University and its European branches, including litigating the claw back actions.
National:
- Assisting in the refinancing of a challenging real estate development in the The Hague region.
- Advising the supervisory board of the Dutch-German conglomerate New Office Centre, including the Dutch division of Staples, during its stabilization, sale, and subsequent proceedings before the Enterprise Chamber.
- Acting as restructuring expert for Direct Pay, focused on commercial collection of large retail claim portfolios.
- Advising on the viability and sale of a licensed Digital Identity platform for one of the Dutch leading legal professional bodies, followed by assisting in the client’s post mortem investigation, and after that taking the role as solvent liquidator in factually dismantling the structure.
Marcel is solution-oriented, and can be unconventional and creative. He maintains a broad strategic perspective, even in highly contentious situations. Marcel can add a certain financial acumen, as well as the expertise as a restructuring expert and business mediator.
Rankings & Recognitions
Marcel Windt holds a Tier 2 ranking in the Chambers Europe Guide for Restructuring/Insolvency: Administration.
For more background information on his education, previous roles, and governance experience in both the profit and non-profit sectors, please see his LinkedIn profile.
Chambers and Partners 2024:
"Marcel Windt is my go-to guy in the Netherlands; he is easy to work with and gets the deal done."