Insolvency officeholders seeking to realise claims or other rights of action will take comfort from the Court of Appeal’s decision in Re Edengate [2022] EWCA Civ 626.
The Court held that failure by a liquidator to give a defendant the opportunity to buy or settle a claim against it before selling the claim to a third party is not necessarily perverse. However, it may often be sensible or good practice to do so.
Did you know it may be possible to continue using the trading name of your liquidated company?
TLT’s Insolvency Team in Belfast were recently successful in obtaining the leave of Court allowing the Director of a liquidated company to continue to use the trading name of the liquidated company with a new company. The Insolvency (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 makes provision for such an application to be made to use what would otherwise be a “Prohibited Name”.
This month sees a statement by the Charity Commission on the Ukraine crisis and how this impacts charities, and a factsheet released by the UK government on the impact the war has had on energy.
There are also some very interesting articles regarding support for domestic abuse victims to how to deal with Social Housing complaints.
Finally there is a press article on TLT’s involvement in the innovative second modular deal for Town and Country Housing and Legal and General Modular Homes.
The FCA has published finalised guidance for insolvency practitioners (IPs) appointed (or looking to be appointed) over regulated firms.
This sets out the FCA’s expectations as to how IPs can ensure firms continue to meet their regulatory obligations both before an appointment and during the course of an insolvency process. It confirms the FCA’s view of what would constitute good practice, as well as linking in to some of the existing statutory obligations on regulated firms and/or IPs.
After a period of significant inactivity as a result of the various temporary measures introduced during the pandemic, we are now approaching an insolvency cliff edge in the UK. In this video, senior restructuring and insolvency lawyers from TLT’s Scottish, Northern Irish and English offices discuss:
Additional conditions will be imposed on administrators seeking to dispose of a company’s business or assets to a party connected to the insolvent company within 8 weeks of their appointment, for administrations beginning on or after 25 June 2021. Equivalent provisions have been in force in Great Britain since 30 April 2021.
Summary
Affected sales will be subject to either
(1) prior creditor approval or
(2) prior review by an independent evaluator.
The National Security and Investment Act 2021 creates a new screening regime for transactions which might raise national security concerns in the UK. It passed into law on 29 April 2021 and is expected to come into effect by autumn 2021.
However, as the Act has retrospective effect from November 2020, insolvency practitioners need to understand the implications for insolvency sales taking place now. We have summarised the headline issues for insolvency practitioners below.
You need to consider the impact of this Act on transactions that are taking place now.
Additional conditions will be imposed on administrators seeking to dispose of a company’s business or assets to a party connected to the insolvent company within 8 weeks of their appointment, for administrations beginning on or after 30 April 2021.
Summary
Affected sales will be subject to either (1) prior creditor approval or (2) prior review by an independent evaluator.
The Pension Protection Fund’s (PPF) restructuring and insolvency team has issued interim guidance on its approach to the new moratorium and restructuring plan (RP) provisions that came into force in the UK in 2020.
The PPF has statutory step in rights, meaning it can vote on certain aspects of both the moratorium and RPs to the exclusion of scheme trustees. This guidance represents the PPF’s take on use of RPs and what they expect to see. However this is only the PPF’s position – this article looks to critically evaluate whether the guidance is tenable.
The Pension Schemes Act 2021 (the Act) introduces new criminal offences which could potentially capture actions taken by anyone involved in planning and advising on corporate restructuring and insolvency, including insolvency practitioners and turnaround professionals, as well as (potentially) financiers and other stakeholders. The Act received Royal Assent in February, and is expected to come into force by the autumn of 2021.