As has been widely reported, the recent energy price volatility (coupled with the price cap limiting suppliers’ ability to pass increased costs on to consumers) has caused a number of energy supply company failures. Yesterday saw the announcement of the collapse of Bulb, one of the UK’s largest energy suppliers, with it being due to … 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
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
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
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
Both Spain and Italy have introduced recent changes to their insolvency laws. The changes are covered in our global guide and cover: Spain The obligation for a debtor to file for bankruptcy within two months of becoming insolvent is suspended until December 31 2021. Updates to the Modification of the Creditor’s agreement measures. Postponement of … Continue Reading
On Monday, Zacaroli J handed down his eagerly anticipated judgment in Lazari Properties (2) Limited (and others) v New Look Retailers Limited (and others). The New Look landlords challenged the New Look CVA and raised a number of arguments which some believed could be the end of CVAs as we know them. In particular, the … Continue Reading
On April 19, 2021, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia granted a motion (the “Seal Motion”) filed by the Intelsat S.A. debtors (the “Debtors”) to seal the hearing on the Debtors’ motion to extend exclusivity and motion to compel plan mediation. Although bankruptcy courts routinely grant motions to seal content … Continue Reading
With the UK taking positive steps towards re-opening the economy, businesses will start to see the true impact that lockdown restrictions (and the lifting of those restrictions) have on supply and demand. The UK government has continued to support UK businesses including, most recently, extending the prohibition on winding up petitions and the forfeiture moratorium, … Continue Reading
With fairly swift measure the UK House of Commons approved the ‘pre-pack regulations’ confirming that, with effect from 30 April 2021, before a pre-pack sale can complete creditor approval or an independent written report from an evaluator will be required. The detail about, the now mandatory referral process, can be found in our previous blogs. … Continue Reading
The Government has issued a consultation paper regarding statutory audits and financial reporting. The consultation makes proposals in relation to four areas, namely directors, auditors and audit firms, shareholders and the audit regulator. We have previously summarised the proposals impacting the purpose and scope of an audit. This post will focus upon the matters affecting … Continue Reading
For the past year, many Australian businesses, ranging from very significant publicly listed corporations, to much smaller family businesses, have benefited from public and private relief measures intended to soften the impact of COVID-19. Although those measures were introduced as a direct result of pandemic-related concerns, the economic reality in many sectors was already uncertain … Continue Reading
HMRC expect all UK taxpayers to pay the tax they owe, in full and on time, whenever they are able to do so. However, in circumstances where a taxpayer is unable to meet its liability, HMRC are able to exercise a discretion to allow the taxpayer to pay tax after the due date, over an … Continue Reading
It is perhaps not unsurprising that the prohibition on landlords taking forfeiture action will be extended until 30 June 2021 given that the UK government has extended other support measures for UK businesses (such as the furlough scheme) and is keen to avoid the cliff edge of insolvencies that many fear could happen should support … Continue Reading
In the final part of our predictions for 2021 for the UK insolvency market we look at pensions, the National Security and Investment Bill and cross border matters. The first and second part of this series of blogs is available here (part 1) and here (part 2).… Continue Reading
Following on from part 1 of our predictions for 2021 for the UK restructuring market part 2 looks at CVAs, directors duties and HMRC and insolvencies. We had hoped to cover off everything in 2 parts, but 2021 looks to be a busy year so we will publish the final part of this series next week.… Continue Reading
Increasing pressures placed on those operating in the retail and hospitality sectors as a result of COVID-19, means there is likely to be an increasing use of CVAs in these sectors. The intention would be to help support and restructure businesses in distress, but could retailers use a CVA as a mechanism to re-write the … Continue Reading
Our guide sets out how different jurisdictions are changing their Insolvency Laws to help alleviate additional pressures placed on businesses as a consequence of cash flow pressures caused by COVID-19. This week’s updates include changes in Japan. Click here to see our updated guide.… Continue Reading
Following the UK Prime Minister’s announcement on Saturday night that England will enter a second national lockdown on Thursday 5 November, HM Treasury has confirmed that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) that was due to close at the end of October will be extended for a month (for now!). The introduction of the Job … Continue Reading
While much of the focus of the insolvency and restructuring world has (rightly and understandably) been on the fundamental changes introduced under the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020, it is worth remembering that there have been major tax changes too. The Finance Act 2020 introduced new rules making directors, shadow directors and certain others … Continue Reading
