After more than seven months of meetings, tough negotiations and visits to court, the plan to restructure $32 billion in frozen non-bank asset backed commercial paper (ABCP) is now one giant step closer to completion.

At Friday’s highly anticipated noteholder meeting, investors voted overwhelmingly in favour of the restructuring plan proposed by the Pan-Canadian Investors Committee for Third-Party Structured ABCP.

“I feel good about the vote,” Toronto lawyer Purdy Crawford, chair of the committee, told reporters after the vote. “I think the vote was stronger than I had anticipated.”

A total of 1,932 noteholders voted today, either in person or by proxy, and of that number 1,853, or 95.9%, voted in favour of the plan.

In order to pass, the plan also required that noteholders representing at least 66 2/3 of the total value of the affected notes vote in favour. In this regard, noteholders representing $30 billion of the notes cast a vote today and of those, $28.8 billion, or 96.1%, of holders voted yes.

But the numbers only tell part of the story.

Murphy Hull, a retail investor who bought non-bank ABCP from the Bank of Nova Scotia, made one of only two statements from investors at today’s meeting. “I want this committee to know that they have not caused justice for people like myself,” he said. Hull voted for the plan because if it failed “the market would collapse,” he said. But he expressed serious disappointment that sellers of the paper will not have to pay for their actions.

In a press conference following the vote, Crawford reiterated his mantra that he has a “great deal of sympathy and empathy” for noteholders such as Hull. “I’d like to see everybody get 100 cents on the dollar,” he said. “But that’s not the way the world works.”

Under the plan, the original shorter-term notes will be replaced with newly structured notes with maturation dates in the nine-year range.

The next step is a hearing in which an Ontario Supreme Court must sanction the plan. But that doesn’t mean that investors will see their money right away. That hearing is scheduled for early May, and then followed by a 21-day hold period to wait for possible appeals. If no appeals are filed, the plan can then be completed and notes will be issued. An appeal would delay proceedings and put the timeline in the hands of the courts.

Earlier this month, Canaccord Capital Corp. and Credential Securities Inc. both announced relief plans for their clients (only those who invested under $1 million) that would see eligible investors get all of their initial investment back, plus interest. Both plans are contingent on the successful completion of the restructuring plan.

A few remaining issues remain before the court. Some parties, notably corporate and larger investors are still hoping to shrink the scope of the so-called master release clause. This part of the plan essentially relieves all sellers of the original paper from any future lawsuits. In order to receive notes under the new plan, investors must sign the release.

Justice Colin Campbell, of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, has not yet ruled on this issue and Crawford vowed today to “do everything we can to work this out.”

After crossing a major hurdle in the implementation of the plan, Crawford was cautious and focused on the work still to be done in order to push the plan across the finish line.

“Needless to say, we are pleased with the outcome of the vote,” he said, noting the proposed solution is unique to Canada. “If we pull this thing off, we will have a private sector restructuring with no government funding.”