Debt restructuring is a process that allows a private or public company or a sovereign entity facing cash flow problems and financial distress to reduce and renegotiate its delinquent debts to improve or restore liquidity so that it can continue its operations.
Replacement of old debt by new debt when not under financial distress is called "refinancing". Out-of-court restructurings, also known as workouts, are increasingly becoming a global reality.
Restructuring or Reframing is the corporate management term for the act of reorganizing the legal, ownership, operational, or other structures of a company for the purpose of making it more profitable, or better organized for its present needs. Other reasons for restructuring include a change of ownership or ownership structure, demerger, or a response to a crisis or major change in the business such as bankruptcy, repositioning, or buyout. Restructuring may also be described as corporate restructuring, debt restructuring and financial restructuring.
Executives involved in restructuring often hire financial and legal advisors to assist in the transaction's details and negotiations. It may also be done by a newly-hired CEO specifically to make the difficult and controversial decisions, required to save or reposition the company. It generally involves financing debt, selling portions of the company to investors, and reorganizing or reducing operations.
Refinancing is the replacement of an existing debt obligation with another debt obligation under a different term and interest rate. The terms and conditions of refinancing may vary widely by country, province, or state, based on several economic factors such as inherent risk, projected risk, political stability of a nation, currency stability, banking regulations, borrower's credit worthiness, and credit rating of a nation. In many industrialized nations, common forms of refinancing include primary residence mortgages and car loans.
If the replacement of debt occurs under financial distress, refinancing might be referred to as debt restructuring.
The city of Detroit, Michigan, filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy on July 18, 2013. It is the largest municipal bankruptcy filing in U.S. history by debt, estimated at $18–20 billion, exceeding Jefferson County, Alabama's $4-billion filing in 2011. Detroit is also the largest city by population in U.S. history to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy, more than twice as large as Stockton, California, which filed in 2012. While Detroit's population had declined from a peak of 1.8 million in 1950, its July 2013 population was reported by The New York Times as a city of 700,000.
Detroit's bankruptcy filing followed a declaration of financial emergency in March 2013 that resulted in Kevyn Orr being appointed as "emergency manager" of the city by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder. Orr's subsequent negotiations sought to get creditors to willingly agree to debt restructuring and accept less than initially agreed on Detroit's debt, and were ultimately unsuccessful.