Choosing Your Breathing Space: Restructuring Officer Or Light-Touch Provisional Liquidation

Key Points

• The Restructuring Officer (RO) regime remains relatively lightly used six years after its introduction, with limited international recognition tested to date.
• Light-touch Joint Provisional Liquidation (JPL) under section 104(3) of the Companies Act remains a viable restructuring route, though the Court now looks for special circumstances justifying its use over the RO regime.
• JPLs are generally more appropriate where governance issues, investigative needs, or asset preservation concerns require greater intervention, while ROs suit cases where management can continue under supervision.
• The RO regime can now be applied at the segregated portfolio level within a segregated portfolio company (SPC), following the landmark Re Holt Fund SPC decision.