Throughout the pandemic we have seen a succession of temporary practice directions, enabling practitioners to deal with the swearing of notices of intention (NOI) and notices of appointment (NOA) of administrators remotely, as well as answering a question which the judiciary had grappled with several times – when does a notice of intention or notice … Continue Reading
In our earlier blog, we considered the application to strike out the challenge against the Caffè Nero company voluntary arrangement (“CVA”) (Nero Holdings Ltd v Young) and the rejection of Caffè Nero’s strike-out action by the Court. In particular, the Nero case focuses on electronic voting (which is increasingly popular in the current climate) and … Continue Reading
Further to our blog last week regarding the restrictions on presentation of winding-up petitions being (partially) lifted, the draft legislation replacing the existing restrictions has now been published and is due to come into force on 29 September 2021. Following the end of the current restrictions on 30 September 2021 (please see our previous blogs … Continue Reading
The UK Government has today indicated what will happen at the end of the month, when the temporary restrictions on winding up petitions are due to lift.… Continue Reading
Opening the door for the SME market, Sir Alistair Norris has sanctioned the first ever restructuring plan for a “mid-market” company. The plan sanctioned in Amicus Finance PLC (in administration) is also the first restructuring plan proposed by insolvency practitioners and the first to cram down a secured creditor. The sanction judgment is short, but … Continue Reading
The recent case of Re A Company [2021] EWHC 2289 (Ch) outlines how the coronavirus test for winding up petitions will be applied by the Courts. Taking a similar approach, to the cases of Newman v Templar Corp Ltd [2020] EWHC 3740 (Ch) and Re PGH Investments Ltd v Ewing [2021] EWHC 533 (Ch), both … Continue Reading
For some time, the government has been considering how best to manage the billions of estimated rent arrears in order to avoid a flurry of winding-up petitions and evictions. This requires a careful balance to protect both landlords and businesses in need, which proposed legislation to ringfence certain rent debt seeks to do. In their … Continue Reading
CVAs are a useful tool in the restructuring tool kit, and may prove extremely helpful to retailers or hospitality companies as a means of supporting those businesses as they emerge from the pandemic. However, with landlords often being the primary creditor who’s claims are compromised under the CVA proposal, this has also led to an … Continue Reading
Following the UK business secretary offering assurance that HMRC will take a ‘cautious approach’ to recovering tax debts (see our previous blog), HMRC has now published guidance outlining its approach. This guidance also explains how HMRC might respond where a business has taken advantage of one of the government backed lending schemes (such as a … Continue Reading
Freedom day (or the 19th of July) is almost upon us, and therefore light at the end of what has been a very long tunnel for UK businesses who will once again be able to operate free of restrictions and lockdown measures. However there is still an element of uncertainty about what the future holds … Continue Reading
In this third alert, we consider the findings in the New Look and Regis CVA challenge cases from the point of view of valuing landlord claims, counting the votes of unimpaired creditors and disclosure. Both of these challenges cases alleged that there has been non-disclosure, and therefore a material irregularity, and challenged the way that the landlords’ claims … Continue Reading
In our second alert in the series we consider the key takeaways for UK insolvency practitioners following the CVA challenges in New Look and Regis. Our alert considers the following: Nominee’s duties Risks to fees Disclosure requirements Discounts and formulas for calculating landlord claims for voting purposes; and The shape of post-pandemic CVAs To read … Continue Reading
Following the pivotal decisions in the New Look and Regis CVA challenge cases, where do the findings in those cases leave retailers, landlords and insolvency practitioners? In a series of alerts we will consider the key takeaways for landlords, the position of retailers and the impact of the findings for insolvency practitioners. Albeit that the … Continue Reading
Last year, the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 made a number of changes to the UK insolvency landscape. Amongst the changes, was the addition of the “ipso facto” regime, which prevents suppliers terminating supply contracts as a result of insolvency-related events. Up until 30 June 2021, “small suppliers” were exempt from the regime. However, … Continue Reading
From 1 March 2020 until 30 June 2021, the rules on wrongful trading were suspended – albeit there was a short period between 1 October 2020 and 25 November 2020 where they did apply. The temporary suspension has now lapsed, meaning that the courts will no longer assume that a director was not responsible for … Continue Reading
We highlighted in our previous blog, the pivotal role that HMRC could play in ensuring the survival of UK businesses when all COVID restrictions are lifted and the government’s various temporary support measures come to an end. The Business Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, has now assured business that HMRC will take a “cautious approach” to recovering … Continue Reading
There is a faint light at the end of the COVID tunnel for commercial landlords regarding timings and the ability to recover unpaid rent arrears. The UK Government has announced an extension to the current prohibition on forfeiture and winding up petitions, to enable it to introduce new legislation to help manage the £6bn estimated … Continue Reading
As a result of the rapid spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19, the UK Government has announced a four-week delay to the easing of COVID-19 restrictions in England and the Step 3 restrictions will remain in place for now. The Government’s intention is that England will move to Step 4 (the lifting of all … Continue Reading
CVA challenges have been in the spotlight recently and the story continues with Nero Holdings Ltd v Young in which the court considered an application to strike out a CVA challenge claim. Although there is nothing ground-breaking in the court’s reasoning to dismiss the strike out/summary judgment application, its detailed reasoning will offer some helpful guidance … Continue Reading
Last night, the UK government confirmed what had been widely mooted in the press over the weekend – that there will be a four-week delay to the easing of COVID-19 restrictions in England and that the Step 3 restrictions will remain in place for now. The government’s intention is that England will move to Step 4 (the … Continue Reading
The recent case of Manolete Partners Plc v Hayward and Barrett Holdings Ltd [2021] EWHC 1481 (Ch) impacts both insolvency practitioners and assignees of insolvency claims, potentially making such claims more expensive to bring and a procedural burden by requiring (depending on the nature of the pleaded claims) two sets of proceedings, even though the claims … Continue Reading
Three weeks after the introduction of the mandatory requirement to obtain an evaluator’s report or seek creditor approval before completing a substantial disposal of a company’s business or assets to a connected person, we have updated our Q&A to include new answers in light of the Insolvency Service’s guidance and following discussions with our clients. … Continue Reading
Following in the footsteps of the New Look CVA challenge judgment (see our blog here) it was not unsurprising that Zacaroli J dismissed all but one of the landlord challenge claims when handing down his judgment in Regis. The Regis CVA challenge has been ongoing since November 2018. Initially it was thought (following Regis entering … Continue Reading
On 12 May 2021, the UK Government introduced the snappily titled “Rating (Coronavirus) and Directors Disqualification (Dissolved Companies) Bill”. As the title of the bill suggests, it seeks to amend the applicability of the directors’ disqualification regime to directors of dissolved companies. A summary of the current regime is summarised in this note on directors’ … Continue Reading
