Fossil’s Cross-Border Restructuring Averts Chapter 11 Stigma

Watchmaker Fossil’s US bankruptcy court recognition of its UK restructuring plan marks the rising use of a cross-border strategy to surgically address complex debt issues without Chapter 11—the first time the technique has been used for a US-listed public company.

Fossil Global Services Ltd.'s UK case was recognized by a Houston bankruptcy court Nov. 12, binding US creditors to the plan. The strategy allows for debt restructuring that’s too difficult to achieve with creditor consent through an out-of-court liability management exercise, but avoids it putting a whole business through an expensive and highly public Chapter 11.

The win for Richardson, ...