The past week has been frustrating for landlords, with the High Court rejecting a landlord challenge to New Look’s CVA (Lazari Properties 2 Ltd and others v New Look Retailers Ltd and others [2021] EWHC 1209 (Ch)) and days later sanctioning Virgin Active’s restructuring plan (Re Virgin Active Holdings Ltd and others [2021] EWHC 1246 (Ch)).
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.
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.
Selección de las principales resoluciones en materia de reestructuraciones e insolvencias.
Suspensión de la junta general extraordinaria hasta la designación y aceptación del cargo por la administración concursal
Auto del Juzgado de lo Mercantil núm. 3 de Sevilla de 26 de febrero de 2021 (asunto “Abengoa”)
Selection of the main restructuring and insolvency judgments.
Suspension of special shareholders’ meeting until insolvency receiver’s appointment and acceptance of that appointment
Decision by Seville Commercial Court No 3 on February 26, 2021 (“Abengoa” case)
On January 22, 2021 Madrid's commercial court judges approved a set of agreed procedures for handling insolvency proceedings in which liquidation is requested together with the insolvency order, as well as a number of criteria for transfers of productive units in these and other insolvency processes.
El 22 de enero de 2021, los jueces mercantiles de Madrid aprobaron un conjunto de acuerdos para la tramitación de procedimientos de insolvencia en los que se solicita la liquidación junto a la declaración de concurso, así como una serie de criterios para la enajenación de unidades productivas en estos y otros procesos concursales.