The UK Supreme Court recently considered the scope of the following tests for whether a company is unable to pay its debts (as set out in section 123(2) of the Insolvency Act 1986):

• The company is unable to pay its debts as they fall due (the "cash-flow test") and
• The value of a company's assets is less than the amount of its liabilities, taking into account its contingent and prospective liabilities (the "balance-sheet test").

The Supreme Court confirmed that:

This corporate update summarises certain decisions in the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court relating to the balance sheet insolvency test, agreements to agree and the exercise of contractual discretion. The decisions clarify the law in a number of areas of day-to-day relevance.

UK BALANCE SHEET INSOLVENCY TEST: Implications for lenders and borrowers

Background

Comfort letters can be a useful tool for providing an assurance of support from a parent to a subsidiary company. In some cases they help inform the decision of the board of a subsidiary and its continuing trade. It's possible for such letters to form binding obligations in law, if carefully considered and drafted.

So Eurosail-UK 2007-3BL plc (Eurosail) is not ‘balance sheet’ insolvent, no event of default has occurred under the RMBS notes it has issued and a post-enforcement call option (PECO) does not make limited recourse any of the notes it relates to.

The English Supreme Court’s eagerly awaited decision on the Eurosail litigation, concerning how the “balance sheet” test for insolvency should be applied, was released today. The decision clarifies how courts should apply the balance sheet test, and what circumstances and facts must be taken into account in doing so.

Balance sheet test must take into account commercial context of company

Introduction

The UK Supreme Court judgment in BNY Corporate Trustee Services Limited and others v Eurosail-UK 2007-3BL PLC [2013] UKSC 28 was handed down on 9 May 2013. It considered: (a) the meaning of the balance sheet insolvency test as laid out in section 123(2) of the UK Insolvency Act 1986 (the "Act"); and (b) the legal effect of a post-enforcement call option ("PECO") and, in particular, whether the existence of a PECO is relevant to an assessment of balance sheet insolvency.

Nearly three years after the High Court decision on the case of BNY Corporate Trustee Services Ltd v Eurosail UK 2007 – 3BL PLC and others was handed down, the case has run its course in the Supreme Court. The case, which considers the correct interpretation of the balance-sheet insolvency test in section 123(2) of the Insolvency Act 1986, is of importance to insolvency practitioners, financial institutions, legal advisers, company directors and companies.  

Court of Appeal decision  

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.

Eurosail’s journey has come to an end: the Supreme Court rejects the “point of no return” test, returns to balance sheet basics.

John Houghton, European Head of Restructuring and Co-Global Chair of Bankruptcy and Restructuring remarks:

The Supreme Court handed down an important judgement last week in the case of BNY Corporate Trustee Services Limited v Eurosail - UK 2007 - 3BL PLC ("the Eurosail Case"), which needs to be considered by anyone who is a party to a contract which contains events of default relating to the insolvency of a party to that contract.

Background