I am delighted to present the third edition of The Issues, an annual publication brought to you by our team at CMS Prague. As is tradition, the articles will look at general legislative developments as well as new opportunities and legal issues that you will be facing in the year ahead. We also look at sector specific topics from across industries such as consumer products, energy, financial services, hotels & leisure, lifesciences, real estate and technology, media & telecoms.

Following last weeks’ report from the Banking Standards Commission in which three former senior executives of HBOS were heavily criticised thoughts have turned to whether or not there is enough evidence for the executives to have disqualification proceedings brought against them. The report named the three executives responsible, and said that the bank, having run up £47bn losses in bad loans, would have gone bust even if the 2008 financial crisis had not happened.

How can a director be disqualified?

You are busy people.  There is too much information. To try to help you identify the issues that are most important to you, we present a round-up of ten of the most significant cases and events in 2011, including Supreme Court decisions on contractual interpretation, the removal of expert witness immunity and the status of arbitrators, together with the coming into force of the Bribery Act 2010 and the new ICC Rules.

The joint liquidators of Peak Hotels & Resorts Limited ("Peak") brought an unsuccessful appeal that a legal charge held over funds paid into court ("Funds") was incapable of enforcement. The court dismissed the appeal on the basis that Peak did retain a proprietary interest over the funds.

British department store House of Fraser have announced plans to close 31 stores across the UK, placing thousands of jobs at risk. Proposals have been filed for Company Voluntary Arrangements ("CVA") of House of Fraser (Stores) Ltd and House of Fraser Ltd which it claimed are central to the significant restructuring of the business.

In May, it was announced that the parent group of House of Fraser would sell a 51% stake to the Chinese owner of Hamleys, C.Banner International, who would inject £70 million into the business.

There is more trouble for the British High Street as Toys R Us and Maplins have both entered Administration. Toys R Us' remaining stores are due to close once stock is sold as the Administrators have been unable to find a buyer. Maplins' stores remain open for now and the Administrators are still looking to secure a buyer, but so far have been unsuccessful. New Look has announced it will be closing 60 stores, and Carpetright has announced plans to close poorly performing stores.

The Swiss government presented a draft bill in May 2017 which was approved by the Swiss Council of States in December 2017 with very few amendments. The revised law could be effective as from 1 January 2019 if the Swiss National Council approves the revision this year.

Key changes include:

Daniel Maurice Wagner -v- Benjamin Vincent St John White [2016] WL 10574979

Tech entrepreneur Ben White has successfully defended Dan Wagner's application to set aside a Statutory Demand in relation to Mr White's £2m investment in Powa Technologies PLC ("Powa"). Ashfords advised Ben White, with Joe Curl acting as counsel.

The Facts

The Australian mining supplier Emeco Holdings Limited ("Emeco") originally filed Chapter 15 proceedings on 11 February 2016. Emeco was looking to complete a significant restructure involving a three way merger and refinancing and debt for equity swaps of around A$680 million. Following creditor approval of the scheme of arrangement, Emeco surfaced from the Chapter 15 proceedings on 7 June 2017.

The rules relating to income payment orders ("IPO") and income payment agreements ("IPA") are largely unchanged. The time periods dictated in the old rules for IPOs and IPAs remain the same, however there are some added requirements in the new rules, particularly in relation to the contents of notices and orders.

Rule 10.109 Application for income payments order (section 310)

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(4) the notice to the bankrupt must be authenticated and dated by the trustee.

Rule 10.110 Order for income payments order