The PizzaExpress Restructuring Plan

We have now seen the new restructuring plan under Part 26A Companies Act 2006 utilised twice to effect debt restructurings, mostly recently in the case of casual dining chain PizzaExpress, which used the procedure in order to restructure its financial obligations using a combination of debt-for-debt and debt-for-equity swaps, and which it completed on 7 November 2020. We consider below some of the key features of PizzaExpress’s plan, including the emerging trend of using deeds of contribution in plans and schemes of arrangement in order to restructure debts incurred and guaranteed at multiple levels of a group’s financing structure.