The deadline for interested purchasers of every child's favourite superstore, Toys R Us, to submit their letters of intent fell last week, with sources indicating that several parties had expressed interest in purchasing the beleaguered retailer. Hilco Capital, the company which saved HMV from Liquidation in 2013, have reportedly submitted a bid and are believed to be amongst the favourites for the troubled retailer.

The special administrators of MFGUK have come up with a CVA proposal for its remaining ordinary creditors, which will enable the winding-up of the estate to the benefit of the creditors.

The administrators have made a number of material settlements and realisations during the administration, simplifying the estate and permitting distributions to ordinary unsecured creditors of 90p in the pound.

This case considers section 245 of the Insolvency Act 1986, namely the rules on avoidance of certain floating charges, and provides analysis of the application of s245 notwithstanding the Liquidation originated in the British Virgin Islands.

This recent decision on a jurisdictional challenge has provided greater clarity and potentially created a tortious cause of action where a debtor dissipates assets prior to judgment and subsequent freezing order.

Background

Schedule 5 of the new rules provides some clarifications on the calculation of time periods:

1. Days - CPR 2.8(1) applies meaning that a period of time expressed as a number of days means clear days, meaning you do not count the day on which the period begins, and the if the end of the period is defined by reference to an event, the day on which that event occurs.

This article was first published in Growth Business, and the original article can be found online here.

Victoria, Samnuggur and Titaghur

The Scottish Court of Session considers the interaction of Indian insolvency proceedings for three Scottish Companies that had also been placed into Administration in Scotland.

Background

The Victoria Jute Company Limited ("Victoria"), The Samnuggur Jute Factory Limited ("Samnuggur") and Titaghur plc ("Titaghur") were all incorporated in Scotland, but had been carrying out their business in India.

Further to our updates in December and January, there has been a further development in relation to this case. The High Court heard the second adjourned hearing of the bankruptcy petition in relation to Glenn Maud.

The costs of presenting a bankruptcy or winding up petition in the UK have increased from 16 November 2015, under the Insolvency Proceedings (Fees) (Amendment) Order 2015. The Official Receiver's deposit, which is paid to the Insolvency Service to cover a proportion of the OR's fees in the event a Bankruptcy Order or Winding Up Order is made, will rise for creditors' bankruptcy petitions from £750 to £825 and for compulsory winding up petitions from £1,250 to £1,350. The deposit will remain unchanged for debtor's own bankruptcy petitions.

This article was first published on Lexis®PSL on 15 November 2018.

Crumpler and another (Joint liquidators of Peak Hotels and Resorts Ltd in liquidation) v Candey Ltd, [2018] EWCA Civ 2256, [2018] All ER (D) 78 (Oct).

What are the practical implications of this case for practitioners?