A significant modification made to the debt, operations or structure of a company. This type of corporate action is usually made when there are significant problems in a company, which are causing some form of financial harm and putting the overall business in jeopardy. The hope is that through restructuring, a company can eliminate financial harm and improve the business.

When a company is having trouble making payments on its debt, it will often consolidate and adjust the terms of the debt in a debt restructuring. After a debt restructuring, the payments on debt are more manageable for the company and the likelihood of payment to bondholders increases. A company restructures its operations or structure by cutting costs, such as payroll, or reducing its size through the sale of assets. This is often seen as necessary when the current situation at a company is one that may lead to its collapse.