The temporary restrictions on winding-up petitions brought in under the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (“CIGA”) are wider than originally envisaged when first announced by the government in April 2020 and have now been extended until 30 June 2021.

1. Introduction

On 1 January 2021, the Act on confirmation of private restructuring plans (Wet homologatie onderhands akkoord, the “Dutch Scheme“) came into effect. At time of writing (25 February 2021), the Dutch courts have rendered 10 judgments in connection with the Dutch Scheme. This blog provides you with the highlights of this case law.

1. General observations

A recent decision of the Court has confirmed that the recipient of funds from an individual who is subject to a bankruptcy petition can be construed as having provided value where that value is given to a third party (and not to the bankrupt personally).

Roger Elford and Jessica Williams in the Corporate Restructuring and Insolvency team at Charles Russell Speechlys LLP acted for a successful Respondent, Howard de Walden Estates Limited, in these proceedings.

The Background

While the dust settles, and lawyers on both sides of The Channel scrutinise the UK-EU trade deal and consider the many legal issues not covered by the accord, The Netherlands is taking steps to assert itself as the most attractive restructuring market in Europe.

The Act on confirmation of private restructuring plans (Wet homologatie onderhands akkoord) – which introduces a framework allowing debtors to restructure their debts outside formal insolvency proceedings (termed the “Dutch Scheme“) – was adopted by the Dutch Senate on 6 October 2020 and will enter into force on 1 January 2021.

The temporary restrictions on winding-up petitions brought in under the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (“CIGA”) are wider than originally envisaged when first announced by the government in April 2020 and have now been extended until 31 March 2021.

The restrictions initially related to the period 1 March 2020 – 30 September 2020 (referred to as the ‘relevant period’). On 24 September, it was announced that the relevant period would be extended until 31 December 2020 and it has now been extended again until 31 March 2021.

The Monthly Insolvency Statistics for November 2020 were released by the government on 15 December 2020 which saw an increase in corporate insolvencies up by 4% to 889, compared to October’s figure of 862 and a fall in personal insolvencies down by 22% with 9,319 compared to October’s figure of 11,945.

Many of the measures of the French Ordinance No. 2020-596 of 20 May 2020, adapting pre-insolvency and insolvency French rules in response to the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, were due to expire on 31 December 2020.

The French law on Acceleration and Simplification of Public Action n°2020-1525 of 7 December 2020 now extends them until December 31, 2021.

The extended measures are as follows:

Jaeger and Peacocks are the latest in a (seemingly) ever lengthening list of High Street stores who have fallen victim to the pandemic, with both stores entering administration last week.

FRP Advisory have been appointed as administrators and are seeking a sale of the businesses which they note are both "attractive brands" for a potential purchaser.