The Court of Appeal in Hunt v Ubhi has confirmed that insolvency practitioners seeking freezing orders are subject to the default requirement of providing an unlimited cross-undertaking in damages.
Amid ongoing economic uncertainty, businesses face growing – and sometimes insurmountable – challenges to remain viable, leading to a marked increase in accelerated or ‘distressed’ sales.
Distressed M&A describes a sale of shares or assets where the business is in financial distress. This includes, for example, companies that are undergoing restructuring or facing insolvency. The sale can be led by the company itself or an officeholder if the company has entered into a formal insolvency process.
The recent judgment in City Gardens Ltd v DOK82 Ltd [2023] EWHC 1149 (Ch) serves as a useful reminder of the extent of, and principles governing, the English court’s jurisdiction to wind up a company on the basis of inability to pay its debts.
Background
City Gardens Limited (C), and DOK82 Ltd (D), had entered into a “memorandum of understanding” (MoU) in relation to a significant debt owed by D to C.
The Court of Appeal (Singh, Males, and Popplewell LJJ) has delivered an important judgment on the interpretation of s.423 of the Insolvency Act 1986 in Invest Bank PSC v El-Husseini[2023] EWCA Civ 555.
As an insolvency practitioner, navigating those tricky, high risk, cases, can often take a toll on your, and your employee’s, mental health.
By definition, your work requires the ability to balance various duties and handle pressure from concerned creditors, anxious or unhelpful directors, and distressed employees. It can be a distressed and distressing environment in which to work.
The government’s Insolvency Service published its Post Implementation Review of the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (CIGA) on 27 June 2023. The overall conclusion from the data collected, including a survey of insolvency practitioners, is that the permanent CIGA measures have been broadly welcomed by stakeholders and are seen as a positive addition to the UK’s rescue framework.
Hugh Miall and James Fennemore acted for the successful claimant beneficiaries in an important decision concerning insolvent trusts and powers exercised for an improper purpose.
Floating charges are common features of finance transactions both in Scotland and in England, and share some characteristics, but these securities have different origins (the Scottish floating charge is a creation of statute while the English floating charge derives from common law) and other key differences which we outline below.
In Denaxe Limited v Cooper & Rubin, the Court of Appeal has recently considered the important issue of immunity from suit against a party who has previously sought the Court’s approval for a particular course of action. This is commonly utilised by trustees (under CPR 64) and insolvency practitioners (for example under CPR 69 and Schedule B1 of the Insolvency Act 1986) when faced with difficult questions concerning entitlements and distributions to different classes of beneficiary or creditor.
The restructuring of Casino Group, one of France's top 6 retailers, is at the point of reaching a favourable outcome. An agreement is expected at the end of July 2023. The commonalities between the restructuring of Casino and Orpéa are the preservation of secured debt, the conversion of unsecured debt into capital, asset disposals and, of course, a significant injection of new money.