The UK’s reformed restructuring regime shows its force with the first successful cross-class cram-down following the introduction of the new restructuring plan. A quick legal update on the key features of the restructuring plan and the analysis of the recent cases can be found in the infographic below.
Contributors to this update were Howard Morris, Amrit Khosa, Jai Mudhar, Joe Donaghey, and Haania Amir.
On Sunday, December 27, 2020, President Trump signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which provides $900 billion in a second wave of economic stimulus relief for industries and individuals faced with challenges from the COVID-19 coronavirus.
Introduction
Het zijn rare tijden. Thuiswerken is de norm geworden. Geen potjes tafeltennis met collega’s, geen gespreken bij het koffieapparaat en een virtuele kennissessie of virtuele vrijdagmiddagborrel is het toch net niet. Gelukkig zijn er ook dingen die wel hetzelfde zijn gebleven: de bestuurdersaansprakelijkheidsupdates van Ploum bij aanvang van een nieuw kwartaal.
The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered unprecedented levels of business disruption and forced numerous companies into bankruptcy in an effort to preserve dwindling liquidity and postpone creditor demands. Retailers, whose brick-and-mortar locations were already struggling to adapt to an increasingly online marketplace, have been among the hardest hit. A number of bankruptcy judges, faced with the prospect of an avalanche of forced liquidations, have thrown these debtors a lifeline by approving requests to suspend lease payments.
On 26 May 2020, Dutch Parliament has adopted the proposal for the Financial Restructuring Act, known in Dutch as WHOA (which stands for Wet Homologatie Onderhands Akkoord). The WHOA allows businesses to seek a court-acpproved cram down which is comparable to Chapter 11 or Scheme of Arrangements.
Insolvency intersected with the UK government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic in an application to the High Court by the administrators of restaurant chain Carluccio’s. Considering the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (the “Scheme”), the court held that:
The COVID-19 pandemic is a public health crisis unprecedented in modern history, and the resulting economic dislocation has caused financial distress across supply chains worldwide. In light of this extraordinary crisis—and in anticipation of a wave of defaults by businesses large and small in the months to come—shippers, vendors, and other suppliers are assessing their potential exposures in the event of a customer failure.
This client alert summarises the recent announcement by the UK government concerning reforms to UK insolvency law to help struggling businesses, being: