Chief Restructuring Officer
Executive appointment to lead a restructuring from inside the business, with the authority to make decisions at pace.
More about Chief Restructuring Officer
Established independents · London market
Bring immediate clarity, decisive action and lasting value.
Utilising an independent professional will deliver the results required.
- 15+
- Years minimum in market
- 12
- Independent members
- £500m
- Debt quanta handled
- Sector
- Agnostic experience
The role
What is an Independent Restructuring Professional?
Historically known as company doctors or corporate trouble-shooters, IRPs assist boards and management teams to avoid insolvency. They have backgrounds as senior executives and board members, found their first experience of corporate crisis stimulating, and stayed in rescue, turnaround and restructuring ever since.
In the UK, IRPs are contractually engaged by borrowers with the support of financial stakeholders to help executives deliver a restructuring. Stakeholders value an IRP's ability to make their own assessment and provide a genuinely independent view.
Scope typically encompasses governance, stakeholder and transaction management, and operational improvement — with broad situational experience that is usually sector agnostic.
The value
How will hiring an independent restructuring professional bring value to my business?
An independent restructuring professional (IRP) brings immediate, objective clarity to a stressed or distressed situation — diagnosing the real issues within days, not months, and cutting through internal politics that delay decisions.
They provide a credible, lender-recognised voice that stabilises stakeholder confidence, unlocks breathing space from banks and creditors, and secures the consents a viable restructuring depends on — often preventing formal insolvency and preserving enterprise value.
With board-level authority and execution discipline, an IRP drives cash control, cost reduction and margin recovery in parallel with the financial restructuring, so the business is stabilised and refinanced — not merely analysed — delivering lasting value rather than a report.
Services
Engagements shaped around the situation, each approach unique.
Independent board advisor
An objective assessment of the situation for boards and stakeholders, with a workable plan and a clear view on deliverability.
More about Independent board advisorStakeholder management
Negotiation with lenders, sponsors, pension trustees, credit insurers and HMRC — building the consensus a solution depends on.
More about Stakeholder managementLiquidity & cash control
Short-term cash forecasting, working capital release and disciplined control of the runway a restructuring needs.
More about Liquidity & cash controlRefinancing & transaction delivery
Debt-for-equity conversions, refinancings, accelerated M&A and managed exits, with rigorous oversight of advisers.
More about Refinancing & transaction deliveryOperational turnaround
Cost, margin and performance improvement delivered alongside the financial restructuring, not after it.
More about Operational turnaroundSector experience
Sector agnostic, but never inexperienced.
Members have led situations across the industrial, consumer, services and regulated economies, in the UK and internationally, in listed, private equity backed and privately owned businesses.
Areas of expertise
Key attributes of an IRP.
Deep situational experience
Multiple sectors and jurisdictions, and a track record of delivering in difficult circumstances.
MoreDecisive leadership
Capable leaders and negotiators in fast-paced environments — direct, ready to challenge, culturally sensitive.
MoreRapid diagnosis
Intellectual horsepower to handle complexity, diagnose problems quickly and design solutions that work.
MoreExecution discipline
Organisational ability, foresight and conscientious management of detail through delivery.
MoreCredible independence
Respected by workout lenders and advisers, but independent of them. Objective, disciplined, high integrity.
MoreLegal & practice fluency
Sound knowledge of relevant law and practice, and experienced management of advisers in complex situations.
More
The London market
Independence, judgement and pace — applied where value is most at risk.
Members
Board-level operators, individually engaged.
Contact the member you believe best fits your needs, or any member, to discuss who might be best placed to assist.
View the full member directory
Nick Alexander
Value creation specialist
Award-winning independent value creation specialist with 25+ years of board-level experience. Fellow of the Institute for Turnaround and Independent Turnaround Advisor of the Year 2022.
Nick Edwards
Restructuring & insolvency
Over 35 years of restructuring experience, including 24 years as a Restructuring and Insolvency partner at Deloitte, with UK and Middle East board roles.
Bob Ellis
Debt restructuring
Debt-for-equity conversions, refinancings, liquidity management and exit execution — effective where covenant stress, over-leverage or governance challenges bite.
Martyn Everett
M&A and restructuring
Led complex strategic, operational and financial restructurings across quoted, private equity and public sectors, including multi-jurisdictional turnarounds.
Ian Gray
Senior board advisor
Over 40 years delivering transformation, restructuring and value creation across complex and often distressed situations.
Alan Gullan
Independent restructuring professional
30+ years on large, complex restructurings, public and private, in the UK and internationally, involving £150m to £500m of debt.
Kelly Jones
CEO / CRO
Operational and financial turnaround programmes across manufacturing, automotive, construction, FMCG and education, in the UK, USA and China.
John Lowry
Executive chairman / CRO
30 years in financial restructuring, operational transformation and value regeneration for enterprises up to £1bn turnover in Europe and the USA.
Donald Muir
Non-executive & executive director
Multi-lingual director with 30 years in manufacturing and services across the UK, USA, Canada, France, Netherlands and emerging markets.
Michael O’Donnell
Independent restructuring professional
Sean Sullivan
Chair / CEO / CRO
Operational restructurings at short notice, steering clients through foreshortened timescales with financial, regulatory and reputational risk.
David Wilkinson
Balance sheet restructuring
Balance sheet restructuring and profit improvement since the 1990s in listed and privately funded businesses across the UK, US and Far East.
How members help
Services offered by the members.
01
Situational Governance Experience
Strategy and Turnaround
Board-level strategy resets and operational turnaround programmes, stabilising performance and rebuilding credibility with stakeholders.
EnquireGovernance under new Ownership
Embedding governance, controls and reporting following a change of ownership, debt-for-equity swap or refinancing.
EnquireValue creation Tactics
Identifying and executing near-term value levers — margin, working capital and cost — alongside the financial restructuring.
Enquire02
Expert Resources
Chairman
Experienced chairs to lead boards through periods of stress, transition or restructuring.
EnquireIndependent Director
Objective non-executive voice on the board, supporting sound decision-making in the zone of insolvency.
EnquireChief Restructuring Officer
Executive appointment with the authority to lead a restructuring from inside the business, at pace.
EnquireInterim Executives
Interim CEOs, COOs and functional leaders deployed to fill capability gaps during a turnaround.
EnquireCFO Support
Hands-on finance leadership support — cash, forecasting, lender reporting and stakeholder communications.
EnquireCash and Profit Forecasting
Disciplined short-term cash forecasting and rolling profit projections that a restructuring depends on.
Enquire03
Supporting Advisors
Supporting M & A
Independent oversight of advisers on accelerated disposals, carve-outs and M&A execution within a restructuring.
EnquireSupporting Refinancings
Coordinating refinancing processes, lender negotiations and documentation alongside legal and debt advisers.
EnquireSupporting Financial Restructurings
Guiding restructuring plans, schemes and balance sheet reorganisations with rigorous management of advisers.
EnquireResources
Useful insights pertinent to the current economic climate and business.
News
Market commentary, regulatory updates and notices from the network on the latest developments affecting restructuring and turnaround in the London market.
View resources
Books
Member-authored and recommended reading on value creation, turnaround strategy, distressed M&A and board governance in times of corporate stress.
View resources
Articles
Member insights and published articles on schemes of arrangement, restructuring plans, directors' duties and the instruments boards reach for in a crisis.
View resourcesLegal
Engagement terms, conflicts and privacy.
Engagement & legal terms
Standard engagement terms, scope of appointment and the contractual basis under which members are retained.
Read terms & conditionsConflicts & independence
Independence policy and conflicts management — how members assess, disclose and manage potential conflicts on every engagement.
Discuss independencePrivacy & professional indemnity
Privacy notice, data handling and the professional indemnity position relied on by members and their clients.
Read privacy policyContact
Situations rarely improve with time.
Tell us briefly what is happening. A member will come back to you, in confidence, usually the same working day.
- enquiries@londonrestructuringnetwork.com
- +44 (0)20 7000 0000
- City of London, United Kingdom