In Re Proex Logistics, 2025 ONSC 51, Justice Steele of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Commercial List) recently made a number of holdings related to the process for trustees accepting claims in a bankruptcy and other parties seeking to challenge those decisions. The Court held that:

Two recent Supreme Court of Canada decisions demonstrate that the corporate attribution doctrine is not a one-size-fits-all approach.

In a recent decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in Poonian v. British Columbia (Securities Commission), the Court determined that while disgorgement orders made by the British Columbia Securities Commission (the “Commission”) survive bankruptcy under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (the “BIA”), administrative penalties may not.

The High Court has found the former directors of collapsed retail chain BHS liable for wrongful trading, misfeasant trading and individual acts of misfeasance.

Although overall quantum is yet to be decided, this has been widely reported as the largest wrongful trading award the courts have made since the introduction of the Insolvency Act 1986.

Insolvency Practitioners will welcome the UK Jurisdiction Taskforce’s (UKJT) Legal Statement on Digital Assets and English Insolvency Law, published on 17 April 2024.

Understandably the focus of corporate transactions, restructures and insolvencies tends to be big ticket issues such as finance, tax and assets.

Immigration considerations are often overlooked, potentially resulting in hidden risks and headaches for those involved. In this article, we look at the implications of such scenarios in two key compliance areas: sponsor licences and the prevention of illegal working.

What is a sponsor licence?

When a customer is made bankrupt, whose knowledge is relevant to start time running under the extra three-year time bar rules in DISP 2.8.2R(2)(b)?

The Moveable Transactions (Scotland) Bill aims to modernise and simplify the process for taking fixed security over moveable assets in Scotland.

Once enacted, Insolvency Practitioners (IPs) may begin to see real changes in certain aspects of the management of formal insolvency processes in Scotland. This insight sets out a high-level summary of the potential impact of the Bill for IPs if enacted in its present form.

1. Additional opportunities for refinancing

Insolvency Practitioners should be alert to the potential impact of new and proposed corporate transparency measures.

Companies House reform and the new Register of Overseas Owners of UK Property will be largely welcomed, providing more in depth access to more reliable information which will support IPs when carrying out their duties. However, some of the insolvency specific details are yet to be confirmed and IPs will want to watch this space. We have set out a high level summary of the forthcoming changes below.

UK corporate insolvencies are rising, driven by spiralling inflation, widespread disruption in the supply of goods and labour and the withdrawal of UK Government Covid support schemes and other temporary pandemic protections from creditor pressure.