Jenna Willis, Calgary

About Jenna

Jenna is a senior member of the Blakes Restructuring & Insolvency group, which is widely recognized as one of Canada’s preeminent corporate restructuring practices. She has 15 years of experience advising clients on complex and multi-jurisdictional restructuring and insolvency matters across Canada and abroad.

Jenna’s practice includes advising lenders, debtor companies, court-appointed officers, purchasers and other stakeholders on high-stakes, time-sensitive restructurings, debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing, distressed M&A, security enforcement and insolvency issues. She has advised on a number of significant cross-border and domestic restructuring matters across a diverse cross-section of industries and covering every continent globally.

A member of the Blakes U.S. initiative team, Jenna worked in the U.S. from 2013 to 2014, focusing on Canadian/U.S. cross-border transactions. She also practised internationally at top-tier law firms in London and the Cayman Islands from 2015 to 2024 before rejoining Blakes.

Select Experience

Select matters in which Jenna had a central role include acting for:

The court-appointed monitor in the Companies Creditors’ Arrangement Act (CCAA) proceedings and sale by reverse vesting order of Razor Energy Corp., Razor Holdings GP Corp. and Blake Energy Services Corp.
The agent in the creditor-commenced CCAA proceedings of Long Run Exploration Ltd.
The court-appointed monitor in the CCAA and U.S. Chapter 15 proceedings of the Pride Transportation Group, involving multiple lenders and over C$2-billion in secured debt
United States Steel Corporation on the CCAA proceedings of its Canadian subsidiary, in which it was the largest creditor with over US$2-billion in claims
The court-appointed receiver in the insolvency proceedings and credit-bid sale of the Kraus carpet companies
The DIP and secured lenders in the Northstar Aerospace Inc. cross-border restructuring proceedings under the CCAA and U.S. Chapter 15
Cliffs Natural Resources Inc., an international mining and natural resources company, on the restructuring of its Canadian business
Terrace Bay Pulp Inc. on its restructuring and subsequent sale of its business under the CCAA
An aircraft lessor and tour operator in the receivership of Skyservice Airlines Inc.

Select matters which Jenna advised on while practising in the U.K. and the Cayman Islands include representing:

An ad-hoc bondholder group on the provisional liquidation and restructuring of Luckin Coffee, China’s largest coffee chain
An ad-hoc bondholder group on the comprehensive US$2.25-billion out-of-court restructuring of Brazilian airline Azul S.A.
Nyrstar, a Belgian-listed global mining and smelting company, on the successful restructuring and recapitalization of its €2.6-billion indebtedness
House of Fraser, a large U.K. retailer, on all aspects of its high-profile restructuring
The largest lenders in the US$2.2-billion restructuring of Dubai-based ship-repair company Drydocks World
BrightHouse, the U.K.’s largest rent-to-own retailer, on the successful out-of-court restructuring of its high-yield bond debt by way of exchange offer
An ad-hoc group of bondholders on the recapitalization of Canadian oil and gas company Sterling Resources
A major European bank on the €1.6-billion sale of its French retail banking business to a private equity-backed group