Milbank Advises Senior Secured Creditors on Amendment and Extension of Arxada’s Debt Through English Scheme of Arrangement

Milbank LLP acted for an ad-hoc group of senior secured term creditors and a group of RCF lenders in connection with the amendment and extension of debt issued by Arxada (formerly Lonza Specialty Ingredients). Arxada is a global specialty chemicals company headquartered in Basel, Switzerland. The transaction closed on September 30, 2026. The amendment and extension transaction concerned a €430 million RCF, approximately €1.1 billion and US$1.4 billion term loans, US$350 million senior secured notes, €460 million fixed rate senior notes and US$110.7 million floating rate senior notes, issued by the Arxada corporate group. 

The transaction obtained the support of more than 97% of senior secured creditors and 99% of senior noteholders. The transaction was implemented through an English scheme of arrangement under Part 26 of the Companies Act 2006 and was conditional on the contribution of CHF 200 million new money by Arxada’s shareholders. The transaction extends the maturity of Arxada’s RCF, term loans and senior secured notes to 2031 and its senior holding company notes to 2032. Milbank also negotiated significant amendments to the instruments to tighten certain covenants,  introduce a suite of new liability management protections, add an additional PIK coupon to the RCF and senior secured notes, and allow Arxada to elect to pay the senior notes as PIK. Net proceeds from the new money were used to partially repay outstanding RCF loans, freeing up additional liquidity for the Arxada group. 

The team was led by Financial Restructuring partners Yushan Ng and Sarah Levin, supported by associates Ryan Edge and Preksha Dhingra; Leveraged Finance partners Suhrud Mehta and Tristram Gargent, supported by associates Dhruv Kaushal and Obinna Mezu; and Capital Markets partner Rebecca Marques, supported by associate Lefteris Dafermos.