On 1 October 2015, several changes to UK insolvency legislation are coming into force. Insolvency practitioners and stakeholders should take note of the following key amendments to make sure they are up to date with these changes.
When can an insolvency practitioner pursue directors for declaring unlawful dividends?
Does an insolvency practitioner need to demonstrate that the directors knew, or ought to have known, that the dividend was paid unlawfully, or is it a strict liability issue?
Can director/shareholders rely on professionally prepared accounts to avoid liability?
When dealing with a debtor or a tenant that has fallen behind with its payment obligations, one of the most cost effective ways of a creditor/landlord reducing its exposure against that entity will be to take advantage of a “self-help” remedy, such as taking possession of the entity’s assets and selling them in repayment of the sums owed.
However, when the entity is the subject of insolvency proceedings, the availability of the various self-help remedies varies depending on:
In an article that first appeared on LexisNexis on 26 February 2018, Jon Chesman examines a High Court decision which found the applicant liquidator of a company had made out her case that a transfer of stock from the company to the first respondent, a former director of the company, amounted to a preference and a transaction at an undervalue, so relief ought to be granted under the Insolvency Act 1986 (IA 1986).
Breese (liquidator of Flexi Containers Ltd) v Hiley and others [2018] EWHC 12 (Ch), [2018] All ER (D) 77 (Jan)
On 13 July, the Insolvency Service published its annual review of personal insolvency statistics for England & Wales for the 2016 calendar year. That annual review can be accessed here. This blog discusses some of the key findings contained within that report.
The shipping industry was recently in the headlines when on 31 August 2016 Hanjin Shipping Co filed for bankruptcy protection in the Seoul Central District Court. Hanjin was South Korea’s biggest container carrier and the seventh largest in the world.
Significant changes have taken effect and are expected to continue within the education sector, the result of which may lead to an increase in restructuring activity and additional pressure on funding streams.
It has almost been 12 months since the Administration (Restrictions on Disposal etc to Connected Persons) Regulations 2021 came into force on 30 April 2021. The regulations require an administrator to obtain creditor approval or a report from an independent evaluator in advance of completing a “substantial disposal” of the company’s property to a connected party within the first eight weeks of the administration.
On 12 May 2021, the UK Government introduced the snappily titled “Rating (Coronavirus) and Directors Disqualification (Dissolved Companies) Bill”.
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.