On 28 January, the English High Court handed down the first ever judgment sanctioning a restructuring plan under Part 26A of the Companies Act 2006 (“CA 2006”) (“Plan”) invoking the new cross class cram down procedure introduced into UK law in June 2020.
Trower J’s judgment in the DeepOcean restructuring has been highly anticipated, and is the first time the court has set out the matters it should take into account when considering whether to exercise its discretion to sanction a Plan against the wishes of a dissenting impaired class, thereby effecting a cross class cram down pursuant to its powers under section 901G of the CA 2006 (a “Cram Down Plan”). The court has only ever previously considered Plans that have not invoked the cross class cram down provisions.
