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Following the overturn of the Petrofac restructuring plan by the Court of Appeal in July 2025 and the High Court's subsequent refusal to sanction the Waldorf restructuring plan in August 2025, London Restructuring partners Katrina Buckley, Karen McMaster and Tim Watson and Restructuring Senior Knowledge Lawyer Chris Poel have sat down with Lisa Rickelton (senior managing director from FTI Consulting, with over 20 years of experience of advising stakeholders on complex insolvency and restructuring matters) to discuss what effect these judgments may have on structuring complex restructurings and the process and practice of preparing a restructuring plan.
The Petrofac judgment marked a significant milestone in the continuing development of the English restructuring plan, being only the second occasion on which a sanctioned restructuring plan has been overturned by the Court of Appeal (following the Adler case in 2024). In turn, much the reasoning behind the reversal of Petrofac plan had a significant bearing on the High Court's ensuing rejection of the Waldorf plan. The issues considered by the Courts and the guidance handed down from the bench in both cases have come under considerable scrutiny from the market, and stakeholders will be keen to understand the implications if they are considering making use of the restructuring plan tool.
Our podcast contributors discuss the specific commercial matters at play in the Petrofac case and why the Court of Appeal came to its decision; the impact of Petrofac on the Waldorf case, what amounts to a "fair" allocation of the benefits generated by a restructuring; how companies can strengthen their evidence to justify such allocations; and the merits or otherwise of possible alternatives to a restructuring plan.
For further details, we also recommend reading our previous article setting out a thorough consideration of the Petrofac Court of Appeal judgment and its implications.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
