You can find below a high-level summary of the brand new instruments the reform has introduced in the Spanish corporate restructuring and insolvency toolkit.

1. New restructuring plan

A US Chapter 11-like plan with very light court-involvement and a number of new main features in case it is court-homologated:

1. Fully debtor-in-possession.

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.

El pasado 28 de diciembre de 2022 se publicó en el BOE el Real Decreto-ley 20/2022, de 27 de diciembre, de medidas de respuesta a las consecuencias económicas y sociales de la Guerra de Ucrania y de apoyo a la reconstrucción de la isla de La Palma y a otras situaciones de vulnerabilidad.

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.

La reforma concursal recientemente aprobada ha sustituido los acuerdos de refinanciación y los acuerdos extrajudiciales de pago por los planes de reestructuración. Para los socios en general, y de la empresa familiar en particular, esta reforma supone un cambio de paradigma, ya que, en determinadas condiciones, los acreedores podrían imponerles un plan de reestructuración mediante el cual los acreedores tomen el control del capital de la compañía, amortizando las participaciones de los socios fundadores o preexistentes.

The Supreme Court recently considered the existence of the “creditor duty” and when this duty arises in the case of BTI v Sequana. The creditor duty is the duty for company directors to consider the interests of the company’s creditors when the company becomes insolvent or is at real risk of insolvency.

The Act n 16/2022, dated September 5, on the reform of the Recast Insolvency Act, published on September 6, 2022, brings deep and major changes to the existing legislation.

The amendment will come into force on September 26, 2022, twenty days after its publication, and affect both proceedings commencing after entry into force of the legislation and a few parts of proceedings that had commenced earlier.

The differences between the original bill and the approved insolvency reform are shown in the compared version available here.

El 6 de septiembre se ha publicado en el Boletn Oficial del Estado la Ley 16/2022, de 5 de septiembre, de reforma del Texto Refundido de la Ley Concursal, que trae consigo importantes y profundas modificaciones en la norma vigente.

La modificacin entrar en vigor el 26 de septiembre de 2022, a los veinte das desde su publicacin, y afectar tanto a los procedimientos que se inicien tras la entrada en vigor de la norma como a algunas partes de aquellos que se hubieran abierto con anterioridad.

Los juzgados de primera instancia conocerán, entre otras, de las acciones colectivas previstas en la legislación sobre condiciones generales de la contratación y en la legislación sobre defensa de consumidores y usuarios.