The government has recently announced plans to extend the moratorium on evictions for non-payment of commercial rent - first introduced in March 2020 under the Coronavirus Act 2020 - to 25 March 2022. At the same time it has introduced legislation to extend the restrictions on statutory demands and winding-up petitions under the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (CIGA) to 30 September 2021.
Following a government announcement on 16 June, the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (Coronavirus) (Extension of the Relevant Period) (No. 2) Regulations 2021 (the Regulations) have been laid before Parliament, coming into force on 22 June.
Landlords of New Look stores have failed in their challenge to a CVA which wrote off rent arrears and imposed turnover rents on hundreds of stores.
Like so many high street fashion retailers New Look was already in a precarious position before the pandemic hit. When its turnover was reduced to nil overnight it projected it would run out of cash without help.
Over the past year, the Covid-19 pandemic upended many industries. While the construction industry has largely been able to operate throughout the pandemic, albeit with increased and ever-changing restrictions on jobsites, one consequence of these disruptions may be an increase in construction-related bankruptcy filings. Already in 2021, there have been over 70 construction-related bankruptcy filings across the country. For many property owners and real estate developers, these filings create a nightmare scenario where work may slow or even stop entirely.
The Insolvency Service published its quarterly insolvency statistics for the period January to March 2021 (Q1 2021) on 30 April 2021. By way of comparison, see our previous update on the Q4 2020 statistics here.
The published statistics for the first quarter of 2021 continue the downward trend seen in the previous 12 month period, with company insolvencies falling overall by 22% from the previous quarter.
Almost a year has now passed since the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (CIGA) first entered force on 26 June 2020. According to the Explanatory Notes that accompanied CIGA, “the overarching objective of [the Act] is to provide businesses with the flexibility and breathing space they need to continue trading during this difficult time”. To this end, CIGA introduces a number of permanent and temporary amendments to the UK’s insolvency landscape which are aimed at ensuring businesses can maximise their chances of survival against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A recent decision by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York highlights directors’ fiduciary duty to evaluate all aspects of multi-stage transactions, including those portions to be effectuated post-closing by successor directors.
Until recently, courts in the Ninth Circuit have generally followed the minority view that non-debtor releases in a bankruptcy plan are prohibited by Bankruptcy Code Section 524(e), which provides that the “discharge of a debt of the debtor does not affect the liability of any other entity on, or the property of any other entity for, such debt.” In the summer of 2020, the Ninth Circuit hinted that its prohibition against non-debtor releases was not absolute, when the court issued its decision in Blixseth v. Credit Suisse, 961 F.3d 1074 (9th Cir.
As the UK slowly emerges from the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government has announced the further extension of the duration of certain temporary measures initially introduced pursuant to the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (CIGA).
On 24 February 2021, the government published new draft Administration (Restrictions on Disposal etc. to Connected Persons) Regulations 2021 (the Regulations), following the consultation process conducted in late 2020. The Regulations are still to be debated by Parliament, but are expected to come into effect on 30 April 2021 with few substantive amendments.