Court of Appeal hands down judgment in highest value restructuring plan

May 12, 2025

Thames Water judgment handed down in restructuring plan

The highly anticipated judgement upheld the heavily criticised and contested Thames Water Utilities Holdings Limited restructuring plan, the aim of which is to provide much needed short-term stability to the UK’s largest water utility while it negotiates a long-term solution.

Lessons to be learned from this landmark judgment:

Treatment of creditors – The court process is vital to protecting the rights of creditors – ‘out of the money’ creditors whose rights are being compromised cannot always be ignored
Fairness – the restructuring process must have overall fairness at its heart.
Cooperation – A welcome reminder that companies must make valuation materials available in a timely manner, and that parties must co-operate to narrow the issues at play
Context matters – Past cases are a useful guide but must be considered in context of each individual restructuring plan.
Third-party releases must be narrowed – Releases should include a carve-out for future claims brought administrators or insolvency officeholders

Effective restructuring plans

The case reinforces the need to ensure sufficient time to facilitate an effective restructuring plan. Seeking early advice on the options and any potentially contentious issues is critical to success.

Leverets can help:

Part 26A Restructuring Plans: we will guide you through the process of preparing and implementing a Part 26A restructuring plan
Mitigating Insolvency Risks: we will provide expert advice to minimise risks and including creditor disputes and fiduciary duty breaches.
Restructuring Options: Together we explore various options – CVAs, refinancing, raising new funding, or partial/total sell offs.

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