How to put your limited company or limited liability partnership into administration - what administration is, appointing an administrator, when administration ends
www.gov.uk
Particularly an administrator must present a plan to creditors and the creditors must approve that plan. In some cases creditors will agree to a CVA or a debt for equity swap as they believe they will realise more money in the long term by doing so. The one thing the creditors cannot do while in administration is apply for a winding up petition which would result in the company being immediately liquidated. However if the company cannot reach an agreement with creditors or cannot be sold it will be liquidated.
The important difference between US chapter 11 and UK administration is that the current management hand over control of the company to the administrator which is not necessarily true in chapter 11.
Sets out the permitted purposes of administration:
"The administrator of a company must perform his functions with the objective of—
(a)rescuing the company as a going concern, or
(b)achieving a better result for the company’s creditors as a whole than would be likely if the company were wound up (without first being in administration), or
(c)realising property in order to make a distribution to one or more secured or preferential creditors.
(2)Subject to sub-paragraph (4), the administrator of a company must perform his functions in the interests of the company’s creditors as a whole."
That is to say it is only permitted to rescue the company as a going concern *if* it is in the interests of creditors.