Many of the largest Halcyon investments were not apartments or fractions. They were loan notes: investors lent money to British special purpose vehicles, the HR Note SPV companies, formed between 2018 and 2022 (Insolvency & Law, timeline published on 15 May 2026). The notes promised fixed interest and repayment at maturity. Some of them carry a further promise: a guarantee given by SAS Halcyon Retreat, the French company placed in liquidation on 23 June 2026.
That guarantee changes everything. The British SPV may have no assets. The French guarantor is in a court-supervised liquidation, with a liquidator, a supervising judge and a claims procedure open to you. But only if your claim is filed in time, in the right name, for the right amount: by 9 November 2026 for creditors living outside metropolitan France.
This article is for noteholders. It explains how to check whether you hold a guarantee, who should file, what to claim, and the traps specific to loan notes.
Can a Halcyon noteholder claim against SAS Halcyon Retreat as guarantor? The short answer
Yes, a noteholder whose loan note is guaranteed by SAS Halcyon Retreat can file a proof of claim in its liquidation, even if the British issuer has not formally defaulted. The claim covers the amount due on the opening date and the sums falling due, with their due dates (art. L. 622-25 French Commercial Code). Amounts in pounds or dollars are converted into euros at the rate of 23 June 2026 (same article). The deadline is 9 November 2026 for creditors outside metropolitan France (art. R. 622-24 French Commercial Code).
Check first: is SAS Halcyon Retreat really your guarantor?
Loan note documentation is not uniform. Before anything else, read three documents: the loan note instrument, the certificate you received, and any separate deed of guarantee.
Look for the exact name and number: SAS Halcyon Retreat, RCS Guéret 529 259 160. Other companies of the group have similar names: Château La Cazine SAS, Halcyon Retreat UK Ltd, Halcyon Retreat Management SARL. A guarantee given by one of them is not a guarantee by SAS Halcyon Retreat, and does not open a claim in its liquidation.
Then identify the nature of the promise. Three wordings are common:
- a guarantee of payment, by which the guarantor pays if the issuer does not (in French law, a cautionnement, art. 2288 French Civil Code);
- an independent guarantee or indemnity, payable on demand, whatever the issuer’s defences (in French law, a garantie autonome, art. 2321 French Civil Code);
- a vague commitment in marketing material (« backed by », « secured on the resort »), which may not be a guarantee at all.
The first two support a claim. The third needs careful analysis, and may be better used as evidence in the criminal case. The difference between the first two is explained, in French, in an article on cautionnement et garantie autonome.
Who should file: the noteholder, the lender of record or the trustee?
This question is rarely raised, and it is the one most likely to cost money. In several Halcyon structures, the person named as lender in the documentation is not the investor who paid. The investor may have subscribed through an intermediary company, a nominee, or a security trustee acting for all noteholders.
Three configurations are possible, and each calls for a different approach.
The guarantee is given directly to each noteholder
The investor is the creditor of the guarantor. The investor files in their own name, with their certificate and proof of payment.
The guarantee is given to a security trustee for all noteholders
The trustee is the creditor, and the trustee should file for the whole issue. The noteholder’s first step is to ask the trustee, in writing, whether it has filed or will file before 9 November 2026. Without a clear written answer, a protective filing by the noteholder is the safer course.
An intermediary company is the lender of record
The documents name a company as lender, and the investor paid that company or through it. The guarantee then runs, on its face, to the intermediary. Two readings are possible. On the first, the intermediary holds the claim for the investor, as nominee, and should file, or authorise the investor to file. On the second, the investor holds the claim directly, by the effect of an assignment or of the note’s terms. The documents and the payment trail decide between them.
In both readings, the conduct is the same: file before the deadline, in the name that the documents best support, and explain the structure in the filing. French law allows a claim to be filed by the creditor or by any agent of its choice, and the creditor can ratify a filing made in its name until the judge rules on admission (art. L. 622-24 French Commercial Code). A filing that explains the chain of title is far easier to defend than no filing at all.
A double filing, by the intermediary and by the investor, raises a question of admission that the supervising judge can settle. A missing filing leads to forfeiture (art. L. 622-26 French Commercial Code).
What to claim, and how to calculate it
Capital, interest and sums falling due
The filing states the amount due on 23 June 2026, the date of the opening judgment, with an indication of the sums falling due afterwards and their due dates (art. L. 622-25 French Commercial Code). For a loan note, that means:
- the capital outstanding;
- the interest accrued and unpaid on 23 June 2026;
- the contractual rate, and the maturity dates still to come.
A guarantee claim can be filed before the issuer has defaulted, and before the guarantee has been called. It is then a claim for sums falling due. Waiting for a formal default by a British SPV that has stopped answering is a sure way to miss the deadline.
Interest after the opening judgment
The opening judgment stops the running of interest, except for loans of one year or more and deferred-payment contracts of one year or more (art. L. 622-28 French Commercial Code, applicable in liquidation by art. L. 641-3). Whether a claim under a guarantee of a multi-year loan note benefits from that exception is not settled for this case. The filing should state the contractual rate and claim continuing interest expressly, leaving the question to be argued at the admission stage.
Currency
Loan notes were issued in pounds sterling, sometimes in dollars. The conversion into euros is made at the exchange rate of 23 June 2026 (art. L. 622-25 French Commercial Code). The filing should give both the original amount and the converted amount, with the rate used.
The evidence that makes a claim admissible
The liquidator verifies each claim and the supervising judge decides on its admission (art. L. 624-2 French Commercial Code). A liquidator who disputes the claim must be answered within thirty days (art. L. 622-27 French Commercial Code), as explained, in French, in an article on la contestation de créance par le mandataire judiciaire. A guaranteed noteholder’s file should contain:
- the loan note instrument and the certificate;
- the deed or clause of guarantee naming SAS Halcyon Retreat;
- proof of payment, showing which account received the money;
- the register of noteholders or any transfer document, if the note changed hands;
- the interest statements and the last payments received;
- any demand sent to the issuer or to the guarantor, and any written acknowledgment of the debt.
Where the lender of record is an intermediary, add everything that links the investor to it: subscription form, correspondence, the intermediary’s own statements.
Traps specific to loan notes
The governing law. Loan note instruments are often governed by English law. That does not prevent a claim in the French liquidation: the lodging, verification and admission of claims are governed by French insolvency law, whatever law governs the contract (Regulation (EU) 2015/848, art. 7). The English-law terms remain relevant to prove what the guarantor owes.
The accessory nature of the guarantee. A French-law guarantee of payment follows the issuer’s debt: the guarantor can raise the defences available to the issuer (art. 2298 French Civil Code). An independent guarantee does not. The wording decides which regime applies, and therefore which defences the liquidator can raise.
The wrong liquidation. A claim filed in the liquidation of Château La Cazine does not cover a guarantee given by SAS Halcyon Retreat. Two companies, two liquidations, two filings.
Silence of the trustee or the intermediary. A trustee or a nominee may never file, for lack of instructions, funds or interest. The noteholder who relied on them has one remaining option: relief from forfeiture, to be requested by 9 January 2027. It requires proof that the delay was not the noteholder’s fault, or that the company omitted the noteholder from its list of creditors (art. L. 622-26 French Commercial Code). The conditions are set out in an article on relief from forfeiture in the Halcyon liquidation.
The criminal case: why noteholders should also be civil parties
A noteholder is also a potential victim of the offences under investigation in Bordeaux, organised fraud and money laundering. Joining the investigation as a civil party is a separate filing with the investigating judge (art. 87 French Code of Criminal Procedure). It is the only route that gives access to assets confiscated from the persons convicted, through payment by the French asset recovery agency (art. 706-164 French Code of Criminal Procedure). How far that reach extends abroad is explained in an article on seizing Halcyon assets abroad. English routes, such as bank reimbursement, are compared with the French ones in an article on Halcyon claims in England and in France.
A guarantee claim in the liquidation and a civil-party filing in the criminal case are complementary. The first targets the company’s assets. The second targets what the people behind it kept.
Invested in the Halcyon Retreat resort in France? Where your claim really stands
Your case, not the general rule
Loan note structures differ from one issue to the next, and sometimes from one investor to the next within the same issue. The name to file in, the amount to claim and the defences to expect depend on the exact documents. The facts count as much as the law, and that is where a lawyer’s work begins.
Valentin Simonnet est avocat au Barreau de Paris. Il intervient en contentieux des affaires et en droit pénal des affaires.
