The ongoing pandemic will cause upheaval across all markets and sectors. Business models may become unviable. Sound businesses will suffer short-term liquidity crises. Customer behaviour may alter. Distress opportunities can create opportunity if buyers can work to an accelerated timeline.

1. IT'S NOT JUST INSOLVENCY

Assuming the Pizza Express company voluntary arrangement (CVA) follows the approach taken by other casual diners and retailers who have also launched CVAs recently, we can predict with some confidence what the Pizza Express CVA proposal might say.

With the Company Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (CIGA 2020) grabbing all the headlines, the Finance Act 2020 (FA 2020), which received Royal Assent on 22 July, has gone somewhat under the radar. However, it has the potential to have an even greater impact on the restructuring market than CIGA 2020.

The two principal measures being brought in are:

The Finance Act received Royal Assent on 22 July 2020, bringing in significant changes for the restructuring market, as well as businesses that become insolvent.

The two principal measures being brought in are:

It has been a strange summer yet all too soon the nation is deflating paddling pools, spending the national debt of a small country in shoe shops and fervently sewing on name tapes as September and a new academic and then legal year approach. We hope many of you have managed some sort of break from home working / living at work despite all the difficulties with travel this summer. We were particularly tickled when one of our clients suggested setting an "out of spare room" autoreply on his email, rather than "out of the office".

The United Kingdom and Australia have recently implemented legislative changes to permit external administrators to assign or sell causes of action available to them.

We are frequently approached by architects looking to wind down their practices, because either (i) they want to retire, (ii) they want to close down because of economic uncertainty, or (iii) they simply do not want to carry on with their practice and they will gain little value in selling it. However, in winding down a practice, we recommend the following key issues are considered:

1. Your contractual and professional obligations as an architect to maintain professional indemnity insurance run-off cover; and

Introduction

This judgment provides some guidance in relation to the scope and application of s283A IA86,  which gives a bankrupt’s trustee in bankruptcy three years to take the necessary steps to realise or secure the bankrupt’s interest in the bankrupt’s home failing which that interest will cease to be part of the estate and will automatically re­vest in the bankrupt.

In this case the court was concerned with the meaning of the phrases (a) ‘an interest in’, (b) ‘a dwelling­house’ and (c) ‘sole or principal residence’ under s283A(1).

The COVID-19 pandemic has already led to business failures and forced others into negotiations with lenders, landlords and other stakeholders. For many sectors, the crisis has reinforced or accelerated the challenges that they were already facing. Government support measures including loans, furlough and temporary legislative changes have delayed some of the usual pressure points, but as support is eased, many businesses will have to find cash from significantly reduced turnover to satisfy deferred liabilities or repay loans.