Key Point
The mere fact that the law of the country in which an asset is situated does not recognise the trust concept does not necessarily invalidate the trust at least as far as English Courts are concerned.
The Facts
The administrators of collapsed forex currency broker Alpari (UK) have announced that the creditors’ meeting will be held on 12 March. See the link below for further details.
An action has successfully been brought by the administrators of Questway Limited, Oceancrown Limited and Loanwell Limited (all in administration) against Stonegale Limited and Norman Ralph Pelosi (the sole shareholder and director of Stonegale Limited) to reduce alienations of properties in Glasgow, under s.242(1) of the Insolvency Act 1986 (the “Insolvency Act”).
A new Statement of Insolvency Practice (SIP16) is expected to be published in March 2015, aimed at improving the framework and operation of pre-pack administrations. This follows the Graham Review, and its report published in June 2014. In this article, we explore the existing pre-pack structure, its shortcomings and how the changes expected might affect insolvency practitioners and their insurers.
Background
Health Warning: This Blog may not be historically accurate
If, like me, you have recently attended one of the many St Patrick’s Day parades that have taken place across the UK and worldwide, you are no doubt acutely aware that St Patrick was a polyester clad leprechaun with a penchant for drinking Guinness and turning rivers green. However, it may come as a shock to learn that St Patrick was also a dyed-in-the-wool insolvency litigator.
The Government has, today, announced that the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (LASPO) Act 2012 reforms for insolvency proceedings are being delayed for the time being, and will therefore not come into force on 1 April 2015.
Mr and Mrs D (the “Second and Third Defendants”) owned and controlled Stoke Place Hotel Ltd (the First Defendant) and were also major shareholders of DHL (a hotel company) which went into administration in September 2012 (the “Administration”).
Valuation Valuation issues tend to be at the heart of any intercreditor dispute in a restructuring. And the art of valuation becomes absolutely critical in the context of a scheme, because creditors with no economic interest need not be invited to vote on a scheme which seeks to compromise creditor claims1 .
The government has indicated that it will raise the financial threshold for creditors petitioning for an individual's bankruptcy through an amendment to the Insolvency Act 1986. From 1 October 2015 a creditor will need to be owed at least £5,000, rather than £750 as at present. This change, coming very shortly after the recent abolition of the remedy of distress, will inevitably serve to further limit landlords' armouries when attempting to recover arrears from tenants.
The UK is to ratify the Cape Town Convention and its Aircraft Protocol (together, Cape Town). This may help UK aircraft operators access cheaper capital markets funding. But that cheaper funding may require the UK, in effect, to adopt Cape Town's "Alternative A" insolvency regime. Section 1110, US Bankruptcy Code (on which Alternative A is based) has worked well in US airline restructurings. But Alternative A may not mesh well with English insolvency law. Will Alternative A hamper restructurings of UK operators of helicopters and other aircraft?