Once hailed as having the potential to add £5.7 billion to the UK economy in 2016, Northern business leaders operating in the tech space met to discuss how best to unlock the sector's growth potential. As part of CyberFest, Womble Bond Dickinson, alongside a host of tech experts and business leaders, aimed to tackle the issue head-on in an insightful roundtable.

The long, long awaited Supreme Court Judgment in the Sequana case is finally here. Firstly, for those who may have forgotten what the Supreme Court was grappling with, the issue was 'whether the trigger for the directors’ duty to consider creditors is merely a real risk of, as opposed to a probability of or close proximity to, insolvency'. 

On 27 July 2022, the European Union (Preventative Restructuring) Regulations (the Regulations) were introduced which gave effect to EU Directive 2019/1023 on restructuring and insolvency[1] (the Directive). The Directive’s principal objective is to ensure that all member states have comparable and effective frameworks in place for early warning and prevention of corporate insolvency.

The Insolvency Service has reported the first disqualifications under new legislation introduced to tackle the practice of directors dissolving companies in order to evade debts.

What remedies should lenders, borrowers and opportunistic credit investors prescribe in light of current market practice and documentation?

This article examines some of the current issues arising in leverage finance agreements on defaults and the expansion of express remedy terms that can impact on debt transfers.

Key Points

Houst Limited's (the Company) restructuring plan (under Part 26A of the Companies Act 2006) (RP) was recently sanctioned at the High Court on 22 July 2022.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

We consider the implications for office-holder claimants of the recent case ofKelmanson v Gallagher & De Weyer [2022] EWHC 395 (Ch).

The case raises interesting points of practice for insolvency practitioners: a director consciously trying to evade or 'game' the statute won't work to prevent office holder recovery, but a sincerely held but mistaken belief on the director's part as to what was being done doing could.

KEY POINTS:

MR DOLLAR BILL LTD V PERSONS UNKNOWN AND OTHERS [2021] EWHC 2718 (Ch)

Federal Decree Law No (16) of 2021 (Factoring Law) was issued on 29 August 2021 and came into effect on 7 December 2021. The Factoring Law, whilst laying a legislative framework for a rapidly expanding trade finance industry in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), also provided much needed clarity from, and an update to, Federal Law No (4) of 2020 (Moveables Law) and Federal Law No (1) 1987 (Civil Code).

New entrants to the trade finance market

Salem Mohammed Ballama Altamimi & ors v Emirates NBD Bank PJSC, HSBC Bank Middle East Limited, ICICI Bank UK Plc and others [2021] DIFC CFI 085 [1]