Key Point
An "establishment" requires business and business activity to be carried out involving dealings with third parties and not simply acts of internal administration.
Facts
Key Point
A distressed debt purchaser may be able to rely on misrepresentations made by the borrower to the original lender in published documents to recover loss.
The Facts
An Irish investment company ("Taberna") claimed damages for misrepresentations made by or on behalf of a large Danish bank ("Roskilde"), in investor presentation documents and annual results, which induced Taberna to enter into a secondary market purchase of subordinated notes originally issued by Roskilde.
The Decision
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has issued a call for evidence following the publication of a critical p
Key points
- Administrators are not required to look behind a director's motives for appointment of administrators, but they must consider whether the statutory purpose can be achieved
- Rescuing a company as a going concern does not necessarily require some positive act or improvement
Facts
Illegality, attribution of knowledge, and Stone & Rolls: Jetivia SA v Bilta (UK) Limited
On 22 April 2015, the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Jetivia SA v Bilta (UK) Limited1, unanimously holding that where a company has been the victim of wrong-doing by its directors, that wrong-doing should not be attributed to the company so as to afford the directors an illegality defence.
The joint report from two parliamentary committees in respect of the City Link administration, concluding that the current system is too heavily skewed in favour of investors over workers, demonstrates the difficulty that directors have in the run up to an insolvency process. Neil Smyth, partner in the Restructuring & Corporate Recovery practice at international law firm Taylor Wessing, explains:
Just before Christmas last year, the High Court handed down a judgment in a bankruptcy case which was contrary to a High Court decision in a previous pensions and bankruptcy case on essentially the same issues. It has left this area in some uncertainty for the time being and is the latest in a long history of developments in this area.
A little bit of history
The Singer & Friedlander Limited Pension and Life Assurance Scheme (the "Scheme") first came to general notice in relation to a case arguing whether the section 75 debt can be subject to a set off due to events after the time from which the relevant figures used in the calculation arose (read our article on Disputed section 75 debt claim).
Key Point
Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs ("HMRC") were not immune from the requirement to give an undertaking for damages suffered where a provisional liquidator was appointed based on HMRC allegations of fraud and tax evasion.
The Facts
Key Point
The mere fact that the law of the country in which an asset is situated does not recognise the trust concept does not necessarily invalidate the trust at least as far as English Courts are concerned.
The Facts