The ruling, which held that the transaction did not violate the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, highlights the importance of carefully drafting lending documents.

On June 6, 2023, Judge David Jones of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas (the Bankruptcy Court) held that the 2020 Serta Simmons "uptier" transaction (the Transaction) was permitted under Serta's existing 2016 credit agreement (the Credit Agreement), a decision that could have broad implications for the permissibility of such transactions.1

What makes a charge a fixed or floating security and why is this distinction important? The characteristics of a floating charge are long-established, but how does a lender ensure that valuable capital assets, i.e. investment properties, stocks, and bonds, of a borrowing company, are subject to valid fixed charge security?

A bankruptcy petition should not proceed if the debt is disputed and subject to an exclusive jurisdiction clause in favour of a foreign court.

Businesses are still struggling to recover post-Covid, with corporate insolvency figures continuing to rise. Recent research shows that the most common company insolvency procedure is creditors’ voluntary liquidation (CVL) and in March 2023, there was the highest monthly total of CVLs since January 2019.

The sectors that appear to have been hit the hardest are construction; wholesale and retail; accommodation and food services.

The Government has finally issued its Policy Paper “High Stakes: gambling reform for the digital age”.

Nigel Huddleston, Minister for Sport, Tourism and Leisure launched the Government’s call for evidence in December 2020. It has taken over two years for the Government’s response to be published.

With the cost-of-living crisis and a possible recession facing the UK economy, it is not surprising that government statistics show insolvencies are rising significantly, with a substantial increase on pre-pandemic levels, and up to 80% higher than the previous 12-month period.

An emerging trend within insolvencies is the recovery of crypto assets, whether the businesses are within the crypto sector, or whether it is any other entity holding value in cryptocurrencies.

Wilko Limited, known as ‘Wilko’, the well-known retailer specialising in home goods and gardening, is reportedly experiencing significant financial difficulties and is now relying on financial support to keep the business afloat.

Wilko has traded since 1930 as an independent family-run store and has expanded to over 400 stores. Despite this, Wilko has revealed it is experiencing financial difficulties when publishing its annual accounts to Companies House in November 2022.

Having experienced first-hand HMRC’s attempts to combat serious tax losses, one of the features of tax litigation over the last 15 years has been the prevalence of so-called ‘Kittel’ cases. These are cases in which HMRC seeks to deny repayments of VAT to companies buying goods in circumstances where HMRC has identified a fraud further up the supply chain, often many companies distant. They can involve significant amounts of VAT and form a substantial pillar of HMRC’s compliance strategy.

The scheme offers a credible implementation alternative, but no “one size fits all” solution exists for German credits.

German credits in sectors such as real estate, automotive, and energy face a worsening macro backdrop. At the same time, the available toolkit for financial restructurings has expanded, offering multiple options without the need for recourse to insolvency proceedings.

Judicial comments cast doubt on the ability to compromise US law-governed debt effectively based on Chapter 15 recognition alone.