The legal effect of “limited recourse” arrangements have been thrown into fresh doubt by a first instance decision of the respected Mr Justice David Richards in the case of Arm Asset Backed Securities S.A. [2013] EWHC 3351.
This decision is relevant to the following common financing arrangements.
The recentThomas Cook refinancing and Cortefiel scheme of arrangement offer contrasting examples to investors of the risks and rewards of adopting a hold-out position in complex multijurisdictional restructurings.
Last month the Chancery Division of the High Court in Manchester considered a challenge to the continuing ap-pointment of LPA receivers in the case of (1) Jumani (2)Tariq v (1) Mortgage Express (2) Walker Singleton ([2013] EWHC 1571 (Ch)).
The insolvency of the borrower is a standard event of default in facility agreements. As well as covering the borrower's cash flow insolvency, these clauses also often cover other, earlier signs of distress. Two recent cases have seen lenders try to exploit these outer reaches of their insolvency event of default clauses. Hayley Çapani and Adam Pierce explain why these cases are significant for parties negotiating new deals, and for lenders considering their enforcement options on existing deals.
Negotiations with creditors for rescheduling
The guidelines laid down by the English courts for applying the balance sheet test for insolvency affects not only whether a company is technically insolvent, but also the enforceability of clauses in transactional banking documents and the ability of a liquidator to challenge certain antecedent transactions. The Supreme Court’s decision will therefore be welcomed by advisors, bankers and insolvency practitioners as it has overturned the high threshold laid down by the Court of Appeal.
The Supreme Court has delivered a judgment providing welcome clarification on the construction and effect of section 123(2) of the Insolvency Act 1986 (the "balance-sheet" insolvency test) and its interaction with section 123(1)(e) of the Act (the "cash flow" insolvency test).
The UK Supreme Court today delivered an important decision on the meaning of the so-called 'balance sheet insolvency test' in s.123(2) of the Insolvency Act 1986 (UK) (BNY Corporate Trustee Services Limited v Eurosail 2007-3BL PLC [2013] UKSC 28 ("Eurosail")).
When dealing with a debtor or a tenant that has fallen behind with its payment obligations, one of the most cost effective ways of a creditor/landlord reducing its exposure against that entity will be to take advantage of a “self-help” remedy, such as taking possession of the entity’s assets and selling them in repayment of the sums owed.
However, when the entity is the subject of insolvency proceedings, the availability of the various self-help remedies varies depending on:
A discharged Bankrupt had intentionally misled the Court as to his COMI being in England and Wales in order to obtain a Bankruptcy Order. Four years after the making of the Bankruptcy Order, the Court annulled it on the grounds that the Court did not have jurisdiction to make the Order in the first place.