The recent sanction judgment gives important guidance on the way in which the court's discretion should be exercised when sanctioning a restructuring plan and considers whether it is necessary for opposing parties to provide valuation evidence of their own .

Key takeaways from the judgment

No worse off test: expert evidence

In its recent judgement in Re Avanti Communications Ltd [2023] EWHC 940 (Ch) ('Avanti') the High Court decided that in some circumstances a charge can take effect as a fixed charge despite the chargor having some flexibility to dispose of assets without the consent of the charge holder.

Background

As of 17 April 2023 new creditors winding up petitions can be presented in accordance with the Insolvency (Amendment) Rules (NI) 2023. This means that the restrictions faced by creditors in filing winding up petitions will be lifted, and ultimately more companies will be open to pursual.

Following a number of recent high-profile collapses of banks in Europe and the United States (notably, Credit Suisse, Silicon Valley Bank, Silvergate Bank and Signature Bank), not only their investors but also their clients may be considering their position under financing arrangements and applicable insolvency law.

Here are five steps that corporate borrowers can take to protect themselves against the fall-out of their financing banks’ insolvency:

Tijdens het Stibbe Annual Debt Finance seminar dat in februari 2023 op het Stibbe kantoor in Amsterdam werd gehouden, werd onder andere gesproken over de tegenwind op de financiële markten en de gevolgen daarvan voor financieringstransacties. Na een schets van de stand van de financiële markten en de vooruitzichten voor 2023 door Marieke Driesen, sprak Niek Groenendijk over de mogelijkheden voor een kredietnemer om zich te wapenen tegen onvoorziene omstandigheden, de belangen van financiële convenanten en andere valkuilen in de financieringsdocumentatie.

The Supreme Court handed down its judgment on the case of Rakusen v Jepsen on 1 March 2023, deciding that rent repayment orders cannot be made against superior landlords.

The case considered whether rent repayment orders (RROs) under the Housing and Planning Act 2016, could be made against immediate landlords only, or whether superior landlords are also liable. 

Op 12 juli 2022 is het wetsvoorstel Tijdelijke wet transparantie turboliquidatie (het "wetsvoorstel") ingediend. Het wetvoorstel ziet op de tijdelijke aanpassing van de wettelijke regeling omtrent turboliquidatie en bevindt zich nog in de voorbereidingsfase.

This is the third article in our series about sponsor licences. This article focuses on the effect of insolvency on a sponsor licence.

Businesses are facing challenging times in the current economic downturn and insolvency is a real possibility for many, with 5,595 company insolvencies in the third quarter of 2022[1] alone.

If a business is on the brink of insolvency this will potentially have an impact on any sponsorship licences held within the company group. But what are the implications of this and what does it mean for sponsored employees?

On 16th December 2022 the Bankruptcy Master released an update which advised that the restriction on filing new creditors' winding up petitions is likely to be lifted in the new term. The court has advised that further information will be issued to legal practitioners in advance of the new guidance.

The Supreme Court handed down its long-awaited judgment in BTI 2014 LLC v. Sequana S.A. [2022] UKSC 25 (Supreme Court - BTI v Sequana) concerning the fiduciary duty of directors to act in good faith in the interests of the company.