Comment

The Supreme Court has handed down its highly anticipated judgment in the joint Nortel Networks/Lehman Brothers appeal.  The administrators of Nortel and Lehman Brothers entities had appealed against the Court of Appeal’s decision that Financial Support Directions (FSDs) issued by the Pensions Regulator (“the Regulator”) after the appointment of administrators attracted priority status as an administration expense.  Rejecting the decision of the lower courts, the Supreme Court ruled that an FSD issued during the course of an administration will rank as a provable debt rather than a

The Bank's Restructuring Proposal

On 6 June 2013, the Court of Appeal reversed the High Court’s decision in The Trustees of the Olympic Airlines SA Pension & Life Insurance Scheme v Olympic Airlines SA from May 2012.

Last month the Chancery Division of the High Court in Manchester considered a challenge to the continuing ap-pointment of LPA receivers in the case of (1) Jumani (2)Tariq v (1) Mortgage Express (2) Walker Singleton ([2013] EWHC 1571 (Ch)).

The UK High Court today took a crucial step towards resolving the difficult issue of when administrators must pay rent.

Judgment date: 28 June 2013

Solicitor struck off for disgraceful conduct unconnected to professional duties

M, a solicitor, was struck off the Roll of Solicitors by the Solicitor’s Disciplinary Tribunal (the Tribunal) following a finding that he was guilty of disgraceful conduct.

The Landlords of units occupied by Game have been given permission by the Court to appeal to the Court of appeal against the principles laid down in Goldacre (Offices) Ltd v Nortel Networks UK Ltd (In Administration) [2009] EWHC 3389 (Ch) [2010] Ch 455 that rent falling due before the commencement of an administration does not fall to be paid as an expense of the administration.

A look at the recent restructuring of the Co-operative Bank and EU proposals for mandatory reform

The Co-operative Bank announced in mid-June that it would need to carry out a forced listing of £300m new shares on the London Stock Exchange to fill a capital hole of around £1.5bn. Co-op's difficulties are said to have been triggered by mounting losses at Britannia Building Society - which Co-Op acquired in 2009 - that were highlighted when the bank failed to follow through on its planned acquisition of 632 Lloyds branches in February this year.

The insolvency of the borrower is a standard event of default in facility agreements. As well as covering the borrower's cash flow insolvency, these clauses also often cover other, earlier signs of distress. Two recent cases have seen lenders try to exploit these outer reaches of their insolvency event of default clauses. Hayley Çapani and Adam Pierce explain why these cases are significant for parties negotiating new deals, and for lenders considering their enforcement options on existing deals.

Negotiations with creditors for rescheduling