Overview
Mark Fine, a partner at law firm McDermott Will & Emery, said:
“The decision by the High Court refusing to sanction Great Annual Savings restructuring plan highlights how HMRC has decided to take a more active role in sanction hearings. Their fateful decision to passively oppose the Houst restructuring plan resulted in their cram down as a class. It is clear they have learned from that given the far more active role they have taken here in court to resist the plan. The court determined the company did not show that HMRC would be no worse off under the plan than in the relevant alternative. It’s clear that HMRC will be a more active participant and companies will need to give careful consideration to this when implementing restructuring plans.”
