The High Court of Justice has today sanctioned the financial restructuring of CB&I UK Limited by way of a Restructuring Plan under Part 26A of the Companies Act 2006. CB&I UK Limited is an English subsidiary of the McDermott Group, a global provider of engineering and construction solutions to the energy industry, headquartered in Houston, Texas.

The Restructuring Plan is part of a global restructuring of the McDermott Group, which includes parallel Dutch wet homologatie onderhands akkoord (“WHOA”) proceedings in the Netherlands and Chapter 15 recognition proceedings in the United States. The restructuring, which was agreed with an ad hoc group of participant and sub-participant lenders and with certain bank lenders via a transaction support agreement in September 2023, amends and extends the term loans and letter of credit facilities of the McDermott Group through to mid-2028 and compromises certain of its unsecured legacy liabilities. 

The Restructuring Plan and the broader restructuring involved complex and novel legal issues, and has been heavily contested by multiple creditor groups. In sanctioning the Restructuring Plan, the Court made use of the “cross class cram down” power available in restructurings under Part 26A. The restructuring is now pending sanction of the WHOA proceedings in the Netherlands, followed by closing expected during March 2024.

The Weil Restructuring team in London advised the ad hoc group of participant and sub-participant lenders in relation to the restructuring and was led by Restructuring partners Neil Devaney and Matt Benson and included Restructuring counsel Nick Fortune, associates Kyle McLachlan, Malina Tatarova and Peter Hession; a Litigation team led by Litigation partner Chris Marks and associates Matthew Gibbon and Charlotte de Vitry; and a Tax team led by Tax partner Jenny Doak, counsel Stuart Pibworth and associate Enda Kerin.