As Covid-19 restrictions in the UK gradually come to an end, the need for distressed tenants to be able to reorganise their liabilities to efficiently deal with the pandemic’s impact upon their balance sheets is likely to result in a number looking to use restructuring plans and CVAs.
Thankfully, a trio of significant recent cases, New Look1, Virgin Active2 and Regis3, have provided helpful and timely guidance regarding the use of such processes.
Three weeks spent entirely at home seemed daunting at the time (little did we know…) and the prospect of wholesale business closures soon gave rise to serious concerns about the potential impact which those closures would have on the wider economy.
The Government has announced that it will introduce new measures to subject pre-pack sales in an administration to a connected person to mandatory independent scrutiny.
2019 has been a busy year for restructuring specialists. Although the UK economy narrowly avoided a recession, a combination of continued domestic and international political uncertainty, decreased consumer confidence and challenging conditions in certain sectors has meant that a number of businesses have gone through restructurings and, in some high-profile cases, insolvency processes during the year.
The UK government has announced amendments to certain aspects of insolvency law, designed to enable businesses which have been adversely affected by the coronavirus outbreak to continue trading while they explore options for rescue or to restructure.
Yesterday, draft Insolvency (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 were published by the Government. In the event of a 'no deal' Brexit, the statutory instrument would amend UK legislation and EU legislation retained on exit day relating to insolvency.
The Government has announced that it will legislate to prohibit the enforcement of certain contractual termination clauses ('ipso facto clauses').
As with other aspects of the response to recent insolvency and corporate governance consultations, this has given us pause for thought.