The Administrators of a group of companies put their proposals before the creditors who failed to approve the proposals. Indeed, they failed to vote at all. The Administrators applied for the proposals to be approved by the Court. It was held that such approval was not required unless  the proposals were actively opposed by creditors. In the absence of such approval, the judge considered that the administrators have the power to act in their own discretion. The judge also used the case to comment on the standard form of proposals used by most insolvency practitioners.

Comment

It is a fact of life that whatever goes up will normally come back down (but not necessarily vice versa). Nowhere is this more keenly felt than in the world of British football, where those clubs that just about stay in the Premier League reap riches that would be the envy of Plutus, Ancient Greek god of wealth, and those that drop out face a desperate chase for money simply to stay afloat.  

The Government has recently published a discussion paper, ‘Transparency & Trust: Enhancing the transparency of UK company ownership and increasing trust in UK business’, inviting feed-back on a number of proposals concerning the transparency of company ownership and control, enforcement of directors’ duties and compensation of creditors.  Among other things, the Government proposes to:  

Summary

Comment

An administrators’ appointment automatically ends after one year, unless steps are taken to extend it. The Enterprise Act introduced a new streamlined process for moving quickly and easily from administration to creditors’ voluntary liquidation, just by filing a notice at Companies House under para 83(3) Sch B1 of the Insolvency Act (IA)1986. Problems have arisen where that notice has been filed very late in the day and not received before the administrators’ term of office automatically ends.

The UK government has just proposed a number of amendments to the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill (currently being considered by Parliament) which will impact on IT suppliers if they become law.

Bill Amendments

Common Starting Points

• Failing UK business.
• Proposed withdrawal from UK market following unsuccessful operations of an international group.
• Proposed solvent restructure involving corporates incorporated in the UK.

Common Questions Raised by Corporations Facing These Difficulties

The demise of high street retail and the insolvency of household names, including Woolworths, BHS, and more recently Debenhams and Monsoon has been a real headache for property owners.

The moratorium created by administration ties the hands of landlords, preventing them from forfeiting leases without first having obtained the consent of the administrator or the leave of the court.