The court held in this case that a costs order in favour of the debtor, in respect of a discontinued bankruptcy petition for the same debt, due to the petitioner, could be set off against the sums due in respect of a second bankruptcy petition brought against the debtor by the same petitioner. The debtor had argued that the petition should be stayed until the previous costs order had been paid.

The case concerned an insolvency practice which had been placed into compulsory liquidation. The Applicants had been appointed liquidators. However, between the presentation of the petition and the winding up order, the assets of the insolvency practice were transferred to another practice, resulting in a claim under section 127 IA86 to declare the transfer void. In addition, the liquidators sought to have transferred to themselves the insolvency cases of the two practitioners of the former practice. The application was by way of the block transfer procedure.

In several Commonwealth jurisdictions, the corporate legislation allows creditors to petition a court to order the winding up of a debtor in circumstances where that debtor is unable to pay its debts as they fall due. Such legislation generally presumes that the debtor is insolvent if it has failed to comply with a statutory notice requiring the debtor to pay a certain debt within a given period of time (a statutory demand).

Hogan Lovells Publications | 06 July 2020

Contracts and Insolvency – a transformational change

New statutory provisions retrospectively change the way many existing and future contracts work. Businesses urgently need to look afresh not just at supply arrangements but also many other significant transactions of which the supply of goods or services forms part.

Real Estate Quarterly

Summer 2020

Contents

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Die anstehende Marktkonsolidierung birgt fusionskontrollrechtliche Herausforderungen

Die COVID-19-Pandemie ist schon lange nicht mehr nur eine Gesundheitskrise, sondern hat sich zu einer globalen Wirtschaftskrise entwickelt, die viele Unternehmen in massive wirtschaftliche Schwierigkeiten bringt. Erwartet wird eine Konsolidierung, bei der finanziell angeschlagene oder insolvente Unternehmen übernommen werden. Auch der Präsident des Bundeskartellamtes, Andreas Mundt, hält eine Übernahmewelle in Folge der Corona-Krise für ein mögliches Szenario.

In this article we consider how the current challenging environment is impacting M&A in the insurance sector

We are living in volatile times. As a consequence of the COVID-19 virus, our equity and high-yield markets have witnessed large swings, making it difficult to value assets. Uncertainty over the timing and extent of the recovery has also made it difficult to value income streams. Moreover, debt financing has become more challenging. All of these factors are contributing to a challenging environment for M&A.

Although the challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic have, and continue to, put exceptional pressure on supply chains, the reality is that the insolvency of a business partner is a risk even in normal times. When that business partner is on the other side of pending arbitration proceedings, questions arise as to how the insolvency affects the substantive claim as well as the underlying procedure.

Hogan Lovells Publications | 15 June 2020

Navigating distress and insolvency in the oil and gas industry

Following the success of our three-part webinar series produced together with Houlihan Lokey in Spring 2020, we have developed reports summarizing how companies and investors can better navigate distress and insolvency in the oil and gas industry.

Since publishing our first article about the impact of Covid-19 on commercial contracts the Government has published the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill, which is set to bring in a number of sweeping changes to UK insolvency law.