England and Wales
Introduction - The England and Wales Perspective on Restructuring
England and Wales have been a favoured destination for restructuring for decades. Though its well-known Scheme of Arrangement is not listed in Annex A of the EIR Recast, this has not been detrimental to its use by a variety of foreign companies seeking to restructure in the UK. Rather, the flexibility of the “sufficient connection test” as opposed to COMI has made it possible to extend the availability of the process more broadly than might have been possible had the procedure been subject to COMI. It is unclear yet how Brexit will affect the use of Schemes of Arrangement by European companies as it will not be affected by the disapplication of the EIR Recast. Post Brexit, issues may potentially arise in relation to UK insolvency proceedings and various Member States. In addition, there may be political and practical reasons why companies may not be as keen to forum shop to the UK post-Brexit.