The Sino-Ocean restructuring plan is the first to be sanctioned in 2025 – but it starts the year off with a very interesting bang. In a relatively short (and commendably clear) judgment, the Court addresses head on:
Facts are stubborn things, but statistics, according to Mark Twain, are pliable. While the author of Tom Sawyer likely wasn’t thinking about the annual UK insolvency statistics, they certainly illustrate his point. The Telegraph uses the 2024 statistics, released Tuesday, to criticise Rachel Reeves, suggesting that an increase in compulsory liquidations in 2024 is a direct result of the October budget. Given that the financial impact of the budget will not be felt directly by businesses until April 2025, this is very much a case of putting the cart before the horse.
New rules in the UK allow Companies House to share non-public information with insolvency officeholders and the Official Receiver.
While in many cases there may be limited non-public information available from Companies House that will be useful to insolvency officeholders, this is another tool available to deploy in appropriate cases. It is specifically envisaged to assist officeholders pursuing claims for fraudulent and wrongful trading, transactions at an undervalue and preferences.
On 13 December 2024, EU member states agreed on a ‘partial’ general approach to the harmonisation of insolvency law.
The Times reported yesterday on the continued promotion of an “insolvency avoidance” scheme, despite efforts by the Insolvency Service to close it down. The scheme claims to offer directors of distressed companies a means of avoiding formal liquidation – with the associated scrutiny of their actions and risk of personal liability.
The Abu Dhabi Global Market (the “ADGM”) courts have recently handed down their decision in NMC Healthcare Limited & Others v Shetty & Others ([2024] ADGMCFI 0007). The decision deals with several important principles in relation to fraudulent/wrongful trading liabilities under ADGM law. Given the ADGM re-domiciliation (or continuation) regime, enabling companies incorporated elsewhere to be redomiciled to ADGM with relative ease, the decision is likely to be of interest beyond the borders of the ADGM.
While franchising has typically been a more robust business model than others, it remains susceptible to broader economic and sectoral pressures, as The Body Shop’s recent entry into administration demonstrates.
In the unfortunate event that a franchisor or franchisee becomes insolvent, disruption is inevitable. However, insolvency doesn’t necessarily spell a terminal outcome. In this article we consider some of the key considerations for both franchisors and franchisees.
Handling franchisee insolvency: the franchisor’s approach
The UK National Security and Investment Act came into force on 4 January 2022, significantly extending the UK Government’s power to investigate and intervene in transactions which pose, or could pose, threats to the UK’s national security.
On 17 April 2024 the UK Jurisdiction Taskforce (theUKJT), chaired by Sir Geoffrey Vos published its Legal Statement on Digital Assets and English Insolvency Law.
Prompted by the EU Restructuring Directive and accelerated by the pandemic, jurisdictions all across Europe have completely transformed their restructuring regimes in recent years. This is part of a global trend towards more debtor-friendly, rescue-orientated restructuring regimes, inspired by US Chapter 11.