This article summarises the findings of the High Court in Re gategroup Guarantee Limited [2021] EWHC 304 (Ch) (Re gategroup Guarantee Limited) and provides a view of its effects on the cross-border application of the Restructuring Plan (defined below) and the use of co-obligor structures in restructurings.

The Restructuring Plan

On 24 February 2021, the UK government laid The Administration (Restrictions on Disposal etc. to Connected Persons) Regulations 2021 before Parliament.

These draft regulations introduce (among other items) new restrictions on “pre-pack” disposals to connected persons and are seemingly a policy response to growing criticism around the inequity of pre-pack sales.

Belgium has modified its law on business reorganizations that involve distressed companies. The new law of January 31, 2009, on the continuity of companies came into force on April 1, 2009, replacing an unpopular and rigid law on judicial composition proceedings that dated to 1997.

This new law simplifies the rules and procedures for reorganizing distressed companies by providing a variety of new flexible out-of-court and in-court options designed to facilitate business recovery.