International law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has advised Cattles plc (Cattles) and its group on its successful c£3bn restructuring.

The Cattles group is a consumer finance group providing instalment credit and other financial services to consumers in the UK with non-standard credit profiles. 

The restructuring returns Cattles and 19 subsidiaries to solvency. The restructuring includes four schemes of arrangement, which have been sanctioned by the High Court of Justice of England and Wales, a ground-breaking mechanism for the payment of certain liabilities in relation to payment protection insurance and an innovative pensions restructuring. 

Further, the restructuring will permit Welcome Financial Services Limited (WFSL), operating under the brand names “Welcome Finance” and “Shopacheck”, to continue to collect out its outstanding loans to its customers. Welcome Finance has approximately 400,000 loans outstanding and operates out of 122 branches. Shopacheck has approximately 225,000 customers and operates out of 71 branches. 

The Freshfields team was led by restructuring partner Adam Gallagher, dispute resolution partner Neil Golding and corporate partner Gareth Stephenson. They were supported by a multi-practice group including senior associate Ryan Beckwith, associates Catherine Armour and Emma Gateaud and counsel Charles Shiramba (restructuring), senior associates Craig Montgomery and Nick Stern and associate Kevin Whibley (dispute resolution), corporate senior associate Richard Jones, pensions counsel Dawn Heath, and Susan Doris and Liz Pierson (senior associates in employment, pensions and benefits) and senior associate Stuart Goldberg and associate John Scurr (intellectual property).