Mr Justice Snowden has declined to sanction a scheme of arrangement due to the "paucity of information" provided by the company to the creditors ahead of the creditor vote. He also commented on the practice of lock-up agreements and highlighted concerns with the payment of lock-up fees.

"The scheme jurisdiction under Part 26 cannot be used to force a compromise upon dissenting creditors unless there has been scrupulously fair and accurate compliance with the requirements of the statute and Practice Statement; and the court is not involved simply to rubber-stamp the wishes of the majority, irrespective of whether there has been such compliance."

Some of the failures noted by Mr Justice Snowden -

(i) failure to provide the information required by the relevant legislation

(ii) failure to engage meaningfully with certain of its creditors

(iii) failure to provide detailed financial information regarding the company and its group

(iv) failure to provide an insolvency comparison

(v) failure to explain to scheme creditors how the company’s valuation of its shares had been arrived at