In a move to increase confidence in the insolvency regime, the UK Government has proposed new measures to improve transparency in pre-packaged administration sales where there is a disposal in administration of all or a substantial part of the company’s assets and it is made to a connected party within the first eight weeks of the administration.

The Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (“CIGA“) ushered in a flexible restructuring compromise or arrangement for companies in financial difficulty (the “Restructuring Plan“). The legislation governing the Restructuring Plan sits alongside that for schemes of arrangement and is included in a new Part 26A to the Companies Act 2006.

The Restructuring Plan does not apply to companies that are solvent with no risk of insolvency; rather it only applies to companies where two conditions have been satisfied:

The Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 is far-reaching with its implications extending to pension schemes. Pension scheme employers and trustees should ensure that they are familiar with the provisions of the Act, and the potential impact that they could have on schemes, employers and savers.

Introduction

The Act received royal assent on Thursday 25 June. The Act passed through Parliament very quickly, so that its provisions can be used by companies experiencing financial difficulty as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Act contains:

On 25 June 2020, the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill (the “Bill”) received Royal Assent and on 26 June 2020 CIGA came into force. The restructuring team in Mayer Brown’s London office has previously commented on the different elements of the Bill in a series of blog posts and podcasts.

The Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill 2020 (the “Bill“) introduces a flexible restructuring compromise or arrangement for companies in financial difficulty (the “Restructuring Plan“). It is proposed that the legislation governing the Restructuring Plan will sit alongside the schemes of arrangement and be included in a new Part 26A to the Companies Act 2006.

The Restructuring Plan will not apply to companies that are solvent with no risk of insolvency; rather it will only apply where two conditions are satisfied:

While those in the restructuring and insolvency profession have been attempting to predict what the temporary suspension of the wrongful trading provisions proposed by the government might look like, the Corporate Insolvency & Governance Bill (the “Bill”) is not quite as anticipated.

A winding-up petition is one of the most critical pieces in a creditor’s armoury where a debt remains unpaid. However, in these challenging times, the government clearly wants to provide a temporary shield to companies who are unable to pay their debts due to COVID-19.

Following review and proposal by the UK Government to develop stricter scrutiny of pre-pack administration sales to connected parties, the Government laid the draft Regulations in Parliament on 24 February 2021. These are due to come into force on 30 April 2021. Our previous article summarising the Government’s proposal can be found here.

In what is the third, sanctioned restructuring plan since the introduction of Part 26A Companies Act 2006 in June 2020, the previously untested “cross-class cram-down” mechanism has now been applied for the first time. Cross-class cram-down being the ability to impose a restructuring plan on dissenting stakeholders whether or not those dissenting creditors form part of the same class as the approving creditors.