How do you improve the image of company voluntary arrangements? Start by reforming the voting rules.

The company voluntary arrangement (CVA) is an insolvency process that has raised significant concern amongst commercial property owners in recent years about their use by tenant companies to change lease terms, write off arrears and recalculate future rental liabilities. Some property owners feel that they have been unfairly targeted by CVAs, particularly in the retail and casual dining sectors, to the benefit of other creditors.

The High Court has dismissed an application by a landlord creditor to overturn a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) implemented by coffee shop chain Caffé Nero. The CVA, previously approved by its creditors, compromised rent arrears and reduced future rents for the company's premises. The decision follows a series of previous high-profile challenges to retail and leisure CVAs.

The UK Government yesterday announced that it will proceed with the phasing out of temporary measures introduced to protect businesses from creditor action during the COVID-19 pandemic, whilst also announcing new measures to protect smaller businesses from winding up petitions. The legislation required to implement these amendments was laid before Parliament yesterday and will come into force on 29 September 2021.

National Car Parks' proposed restructuring plan aimed to write-off arrears, cut rents and close unwanted sites but why did the plan stall?

On 30 April 2021, National Car Parks launched its proposed restructuring plan, which is the flagship new restructuring process introduced last June through the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020. Around a dozen restructuring plans have come to market so far, but the NCP plan was only the second (the first being Virgin Active) to involve landlord creditors.

The government has finally come up with proposals to reform pre-pack administrations, requiring independent scrutiny of sales to connected parties, as Mathew Ditchburn explains.

As reported earlier, a new corporate restructuring law will be enacted in Germany. The new law's centerpiece will be the so-called stabilization and restructuring framework ("SRF"). The German Parliament (the Bundestag) passed the law on 17 December 2020. On 18 December 2020 the law was also accepted by the Federal Council (the Bundesrat). It will come into force on 1 January 2021, already.

Wie bereits berichtet erhält Deutschland ein neues Restrukturierungsrecht für Unternehmen, dessen Herzstück der sogenannte Stabilisierungs- und Restrukturierungsrahmen („SRR“) ist. Der Bundestag hat das entsprechende Gesetz am 17. Dezember 2020 verabschiedet. Am 18. Dezember 2020 wurde das Gesetz auch durch den Bundesrat gebilligt. Es wird bereits am 1. Januar 2021 in Kraft treten.

Germany's new restructuring regime is expected to come into force 0n 1 January 2021. At the heart of the new regulation is the introduction of a so-called stabilization and restructuring framework (“SRF”) for companies. In a sea change to the traditional approach, the SRF enables a company to be restructured before insolvency proceedings have to be initiated. It is therefore expected that this new regime will have a major impact on German restructuring practice.

Introduction of a Preventive Restructuring Framework

Deutschland erhält ein neues Restrukturierungsrecht, und zwar voraussichtlich ab 1. Januar 2021. Herzstück der im aktuellen Gesetzesentwurf vorgesehenen Neuregelungen ist die Schaffung des sogenannten Stabilisierungs- und Restrukturierungsrahmens („SRR“) für Unternehmen. Der SRR soll die Restrukturierung eines Unternehmens ermöglichen, bevor ein Insolvenzverfahren eingeleitet werden muss. Die Gesetzesänderung wird daher einen großen Einfluss auf die Restrukturierungspraxis haben.