A restructuring plan may well be a very effective way of restructuring a foreign company. It has several advantages over a scheme of arrangement and with a relatively low entry threshold, the English court has already sanctioned at least one plan for a foreign company in the relatively short time that it has been available. … Continue Reading
Many local, national and global businesses with UK operations have been significantly impacted by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Cash flows have been impacted, trade and supply chains disrupted and business and consumer confidence damaged. Many businesses are facing the same challenges at the same time. The key for businesses to resetting for the “new normal” … Continue Reading
The ability of suppliers to terminate contracts when a customer becomes insolvent is to be curtailed by the Government under plans published in the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill (the “Bill”). The Bill contains a suite of measures designed to help businesses both during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, several of which have been under … Continue Reading
The UK government has released its recovery strategy dealing with how the UK might move from lockdown to the “ new normal” enabling some businesses to re-open. The ability to begin rejuvenating businesses that have been mothballed for the past couple of months is good news but corporates should proceed with caution as they take … Continue Reading
UK insolvency law has seen a number of significant changes over recent years, including the introduction of the Insolvency Rules 2016 (“IR 2016”) in April 2017. Further legislation has been expected in order to ensure that all of these changes apply consistently throughout the whole insolvency regime, after it became clear that IR 2016 did … Continue Reading
The Court of Appeal in Harvey v Dunbar Assets plc [2017] EWCA Civ 60 has confirmed that parties cannot re-litigate failed arguments that have previously been presented in bankruptcy proceedings. This will be welcome news for creditors in situations where debtors rehearse the same arguments at several stages of the bankruptcy process in an attempt … Continue Reading
Parties in the construction sector seeking to enforce an adjudicator’s decision against a company with the benefit of a statutory moratorium were given fresh guidance in the recent case of South Coast Construction Ltd v Iverson Road Ltd [2017] EWHC 61. … Continue Reading
The Housing and Planning Act 2016 (the “Act”) introduces special administration procedures for social housing associations which aim to protect the level of social housing in the UK. The new housing administration orders (“HAOs”) create an additional objective for insolvency practitioners to try to keep social housing in the regulated housing sector to maintain levels of … Continue Reading
Since its inception in 2005, the PPF has been a welcome safety net for employees whose company pension scheme is in deficit and the sponsoring employer is on the verge of insolvency. The PPF’s major challenge has been preventing employers from deliberately engineering or recklessly creating such deficits in the pension scheme (to the benefit … Continue Reading
Consumers could be set to jump up the insolvency hierarchy if Parliament backs the latest Law Commission recommendations. The Law Commission’s report, Consumer Prepayments on Retailer Insolvency, recommends, among other things, that consumers who prepay for goods or services over £250 in the six months prior to a formal insolvency process should be paid out … Continue Reading
The Third Parties (Rights Against Insurers) Act 2010 (“TPR”) will finally come into force on 1 August 2016, making it easier for third parties to bring claims against insurers of insolvent companies. It has taken more than six years, spread over three separate governments and was amended even before it came into force, but TPR … Continue Reading
It is very much the nature of the job that appointed Office Holders are required to make difficult and challenging decisions on each and every case they take. On some occasions those decisions are well received – on others, not so well. Creditors affected by those decisions can take comfort that the Office Holder is … Continue Reading
On 1 October 2015 the Insolvency (Protection of Essential Supplies) Order 2015 (“PESO”) will come into force. PESO aims to strengthen the statutory protection provided to insolvent companies and insolvency practitioners who need to utilise ‘essential supplies’ to continue to trade. Essential Supplies When a business enters an insolvency process they often need continuity of … Continue Reading
Despite the fact that there have been no football club insolvencies in over two seasons, on 5 June 2015 the Football League voted to amend its rules on football insolvencies. The amendments to the existing rules were approved at the recent Football League Conference and will come into force from the start of the 2015-16 … Continue Reading