The hair salon Regis announced recently that the company has entered administration. The news might not come as a surprise because the chain, prior to the company’s administration, was subject to a company voluntary arrangement (“CVA”) whose validity was challenged by landlords.

The joint administrator of Regis commented: “trading challenges, coupled with the uncertainty caused by the legal challenge, have necessitated the need for an administration appointment”.

This article was updated on Jan. 9, 2020. 

Today the Government published draft provisions for inclusion in the Finance Bill which will amend the Insolvency Act 1986 and grant HMRC preferential status on insolvency. A status that was removed in 2003 but which will be re-instated (in part) from 6 April 2020.

Despite huge concern from the lending market, voiced in responses to the Government’s consultation on this measure, the only material change we can see is confirmation that preferential status will not apply to insolvency proceedings commenced before 6 April 2020.

The proposal to reinstate Crown preference in insolvency has met resistance from all angles; the insolvency profession, turnaround experts, accountants, lawyers and funders. But despite HMRC’s bold statement in its consultation paper that the re-introduction of Crown preference will have little impact on funders, it is clear following a discussion with lenders that it may well have a far wider impact on existing and new business, business rescue and the economy in general than HMRC believes.

In the holiday season many of us jet-set to foreign shores – but do we ever think about how we might get home if our budget airline goes bust or are we just hunting for the best deals to make the pound stretch further?

The last decade has seen a number of airlines collapse or be swallowed up by competitors:

Q: We've heard about the expiration of the “grandfather clause” (in French, clause grand-père) in the Cape Town Convention, whereby pre-existing rights and interests or their priorities in a State before the effective date of the Cape Town Convention in that State shall not be affected by the Cape Town Convention. We would like to know more details about:

1. Which article in the Cape Town Convention prescribes this rule?

2. Is this rule applicable in Canada?

As the country recovers from the shock outcome of last Thursday’s Referendum, the question which Restructuring professionals must now consider is “what does Brexit mean for me?”. The truth is that nobody really knows. The Referendum decision is not legally binding on the UK Government and the process of the UK leaving the EU will only start once the UK has served formal notice on the EU pursuant to Article 50 of the Treaty on the European Union. This will start a two year negotiation period to effect Brexit.

On 23 June 2016 a 52% majority of the British people voted in favour of leaving the European Union. It seems likely that the immediate effect of the Brexit vote will be a degree of turmoil in the financial markets, involving, for instance a devaluation of Sterling against the Euro and of the Euro against the USD.

Chances are those well-known eloquent lyrics have stirred up some patriotic spirit from somewhere deep within even the most sporting averse of us.

With the 2016 summer of sport fast upon us the effect of the Euros, Wimbledon and the Olympics could have a significant impact on the economy (and the nerves) of the nation.

The Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment (the “Convention”) and theProtocol to the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment on Matters specific to Aircraft Equipment (the “Protocol” collectively with the Convention, the “Cape Town Convention”) signed on November 16, 2001 establish a special regime for the protection of certain interests in aircraft objects (within the meaning given to such term in the Cape Town Convention, an “Aircraft Object”), and