Ian Guthrie: Navigating credit markets and complex restructurings over a 35 year career.

1. What is the best part of your job?

The best part of the job is the variety and unpredictability. No two situations are ever the same—different businesses, different stakeholders, different pressures—and that keeps it consistently engaging.

Equally important are the people. Restructuring sits at the intersection of finance, law and human behaviour, and you work with a wide range of individuals—management teams, lenders, advisers and business owners—often at critical moments for their organisations. That human dimension is what makes the role particularly interesting and, at times, challenging.

2. How do you think the industry has changed since your career began?

The most significant change I have seen has been in the credit landscape. I spent the first 25 years of my career in banking, and when I started, the market was dominated by a small number of clearing banks. It was a relatively concentrated environment, and while not without its issues, it was easier to understand how decisions would be made and who the key stakeholders were.

Today, we have moved to a far more fragmented market, with hundreds of banks and non-bank lenders. That has introduced a level of competition that simply did not exist before, which is positive in many respects, particularly in terms of flexibility and access to capital.

However, it has also made the landscape much more complex. For borrowers, navigating the market and determining what a “good” deal looks like is no longer straightforward. In restructuring situations, that fragmentation can also make coordination more difficult, particularly where creditor groups have different objectives and levels of sophistication.

3. What has been your most memorable deal?

The restructuring of Booker, the UK’s largest cash-and-carry business, stands out for two main reasons. Firstly, it was a large and complex situation, which always brings its own challenges, that crystallised in the years prior to the global financial crisis (GFC). Secondly, and more importantly, it gave me the opportunity to work with Charles Wilson, who we brought in as CEO as part of the restructuring process.

He is, without question, one of the most impressive individuals I have had the privilege of working with. What stood out was the clarity of his thinking and his ability to execute. In restructuring, you often see plans that look good on paper but fail in delivery. Booker was different—it demonstrated what can be achieved when strong leadership aligns with a clear and well-executed strategy.

The eventual outcome, with Booker being acquired by Tesco, was a fantastic result. That said, as restructuring professionals will appreciate, outcomes like that are rarely fully predictable at the outset. While you plan as best you can, timing and a degree of good fortune always play a role.

4. What advice would you give someone starting out in the profession today?

You have two ears and one mouth for a reason—use them in that proportion. Listening is one of the most important skills in restructuring. You are constantly dealing with different stakeholders, each with their own perspectives and motivations, and understanding those is critical.

5. What were your best and worst days on the job?

The worst days were in the lead-up to the GFC. There was a real sense that events were accelerating beyond anyone’s control—it felt like a tsunami building across the market. It was not just about individual situations; it felt systemic, with uncertainty everywhere you looked.

The best days are often less dramatic but more satisfying. They tend to be the point at which a restructuring plan finally crystallises. After weeks or months of work, negotiation and uncertainty, you reach a moment where there is alignment and a clear path forward. Those moments represent a shift from instability to execution, and that is always rewarding.

6. Have you learned an important career lesson from a mistake?

Yes—many. One that stands out is not to throw good money after bad. It sounds simple, but in practice it is very difficult.

When you are in the middle of a situation—particularly one where significant time, effort and capital have already been invested—there is a natural tendency to keep going, to try to recover value or justify earlier decisions. Recognising the point at which continuing no longer makes sense requires discipline and objectivity. It is rarely an easy call, but it is often the right one.

7. What is the best advice you personally have received in your career?

You do not need to be the brightest person in the room if you are the hardest working person in that room.

That advice has stayed with me because it reflects the reality of the profession. Restructuring is demanding, often time-pressured and detail-heavy. While intelligence is important, it is sustained effort, consistency and a willingness to go the extra mile that ultimately drive results.

8. What could the insolvency and restructuring industry be better at?

One area is managing complexity. Over time, financial structures have become increasingly sophisticated, with multiple layers of debt and differing creditor rights. While that innovation has benefits in an “up” market, it can make restructurings significantly more difficult when things go wrong.

As an industry, there is an opportunity to focus on simplicity and transparency where possible. Complexity rarely creates value in distress—it tends instead to obscure it and make resolution more challenging.

Another area is timing. Too often, restructuring advice is sought too late, when the range of available options has already narrowed. Earlier engagement from both lenders and management teams would, in many cases, lead to better outcomes and greater value preservation.

9. If you could change one thing about the law, what would it be?

The UK has made strong progress in recent years, particularly with the introduction of restructuring plans. However, the process can still be time-consuming and expensive, especially for mid-market businesses.

If I could change one thing, it would be to streamline the process further to reduce cost and friction, while still maintaining appropriate protections for stakeholders. Making restructuring tools more accessible and efficient would help ensure that more businesses can take advantage of them at the right time, rather than only when options are limited.

10. What could legal advisers do better?

The best legal advisers add enormous value, particularly in complex restructuring situations. Where there is room for improvement is in maintaining a consistently commercial perspective.

It is entirely understandable that lawyers focus on protecting their clients’ positions, but the most effective advisers are those who combine technical excellence with pragmatism. The ability to balance legal precision with commercial reality is what ultimately drives successful outcomes.

11. If you were to predict how the industry will change over the next two decades, how do you see it evolving?

The industry is inherently cyclical, and despite our best efforts, we are likely to repeat many of the mistakes of the past. Credit expands, structures become more aggressive, and eventually the cycle turns.

That said, there will be clear areas of evolution. The continued growth of private credit will reshape the lending landscape further, and technology will play an increasing role, particularly in data analysis and scenario modelling.

However, the core elements of the profession—judgement, negotiation and stakeholder management—will remain unchanged. If anything, they will become even more important as situations become more complex.

And if there is one hope, it is that while we may be destined to repeat certain patterns, we can at least have more fun on the journey.

A version of this article first appeared in Corporate Rescue and Insolvency, published in June 2026.