PizzaExpress gets U.S. court recognition of restructuring proceedings

By Sarah Lizee

Olympia, Wash., Nov. 4 – PizzaExpress Financing 2 plc gained U.S. court recognition of its restructuring proceedings pending in the High Court of Justice of England and Wales, according to an order filed Tuesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.

As previously reported, PizzaExpress executed a restructuring support agreement in August between the debtors, an ad hoc group representing 75% of the existing senior secured notes and the group’s principal shareholder, Hony Capital. Subsequently, holders of about 93.2% of the existing senior secured notes and 47% of the existing senior unsecured notes had entered into, or subsequently joined, the RSA.

As part of the restructuring transaction, the group is undertaking a major financial restructuring to transfer the ownership of the business to a new holding structure and deleverage the balance sheet by reducing the group’s external debt to £319 million from roughly £735 million and facilitating the injection of a new money facility of around £144 million.

The restructuring plan will give holders of existing senior secured notes new debt instruments, equity in the restructured group and an opportunity to participate in the provision of about £144 million of new financing and gives holders of the existing senior unsecured notes equity in the restructured group.

PizzaExpress is a London-based restaurant group. The company filed Chapter 15 bankruptcy on Oct. 4 under case number 20-34868.

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