COVID-19 Update from GLAS
1 April 2020
Dear Clients and Friends of GLAS
First and foremost, on behalf of our global team, we hope you and your families are in good health at this challenging time.
As we move into another week of lock down, we simply cannot believe the global escalation that has happened since our last bulletin on 17th March 2020. The speed and spread of the pandemic, and the roll out and enforcement of lock-downs and border closures, all of which have happened so quickly, are surreal. We are pleased with our decision to take our business to remote working a few weeks ago, which seems to have been the right one, and we are pleased with the speed and success of this transition for our global team. Whilst we at GLAS, like many businesses operating in financial services, are considered an “essential business”, our priority is to keep our employees, their families and our clients safe.
Business as usual
We have embraced the various Government decisions in all of our locations to introduce enforced social distancing and lock down measures and have been providing a range of support to our team who are embracing the new working regime from their homes. We have introduced new measures, including a number of daily meetings with teams, management catch-ups and 1-2-1’s and are positively encouraging the use of video calls both internally and externally with clients. Our team have been focused on deal execution and have been working hard to support the increase in deal flow.
We remain busy and continue to win new transactions, restructurings and refinancings across all locations. We are also seeing unprecedented activity in drawdowns as Borrowers maximise liquidity and increased levels of trading across our loan book.
On 31st March 2020, which is ordinarily a busy quarter end, our client services teams successfully processed several hundred payments across our portfolio with no major issues incurred.
Moving Forward
As we settle into the “new norm” for what looks like some considerable time, our senior team continue to monitor external events on a daily basis. Whilst rolling out measures to keep our team connected, our London and Australia teams recently held a “virtual happy hour” on video chat to mark the end of a busy week, which almost all of the teams dialled into. We are looking to make this a regular slot.
Our business was initially established to handle complex situations in restructuring and bankruptcy and we continue to be recognised as the leader in this space. We have developed significant experience across a wide range of scenarios, Scheme of Arrangement, Chapter 11, Amend and Extend and Enforcements. We are well equipped to provide a rapid response to any potential situations that may arise.
We are also focusing on ensuring our clients are aware of our technological capabilities to help with their deal management and reporting during this time.
We will be hosting our first webinar later this week on “Liquidity Solutions for Direct Lenders” which will be recorded and available.
Please continue to reach out to your normal GLAS contacts if you need any assistance.
Kind regards
Mia Drennan, Co-Founder and Co-Chair
Brian Carne, Co-Founder and Co-Chair
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17 March 2020
Dear Clients and Friends of GLAS
As the COVID-19 situation continues to evolve, we are closely monitoring the ongoing situation and developments. We have acted swiftly to implement our contingency plans to ensure that our business continues to operate uninterrupted and, most importantly, our team remain healthy and safe.
Since early last week, we have seen unprecedented volumes of trading activity and drawdowns. Given the size of our operational teams we are well placed to deal with this additional demand and are handling the increased activity in an expedient manner and will continue to do so over the coming days, weeks, etc as our Clients look to fulfil their liquidity needs.
How our offices are operating
As a global business with operational offices in London, New Jersey, Paris, Sydney and Brisbane we have been working closely with our local teams to implement an effective response which involves remote working in light of this fast changing landscape.
Working with our clients
As we all adjust to these recent events and adapt a new style of working, we have restricted physical meetings and are increasing the use of video and telephone conference calls instead. Our business continuity plan means that our teams are available on their usual business telephone numbers and email addresses and continue to deal with queries and provide service to our clients on a “business as usual” basis. Our operating systems are set up to avoid any disruption to our daily activities.
Business as usual
We anticipate over the coming weeks and months our Clients may need our help. We remain ready and available to assist as and when required with any new and/or existing transactional requests in short order. Please reach out to your usual contacts at GLAS if you need urgent assistance.
Kind regards
Mia Drennan, Co-Founder and Co-Chair
Brian Carne, Co-Founder and Co-Chair
