Background

Avanti Communications Group PLC ("Avanti") are a satellite operator headquartered in London, with subsidiaries across Europe and Africa, providing fixed satellite services in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Avanti had issued Senior Secured Notes maturing in 2021 and 2023 and had borrowed under a senior term loan. Due to delays associated with two of Avanti's satellites, Avanti experienced financial difficulties, with a materially over-leveraged capital structure.

Cathryn Williams and Paul Muscutt, partners in the Squire Patton Boggs Restructuring & Insolvency team in London, interview Ian Fletcher, Director of Policy (Real Estate) of the BPF (the trade association for UK residential and commercial real estate companies) to get the BPF’s views on the recent spate of CVAs seeking to reduce/compromise lease liabilities.

Do you think the current use of CVAs is fair on landlords?

Aston Villa face a winding up petition issued by HMRC for unpaid tax. If you’re a business owner the one thing you don’t want to receive is a winding up petition because as soon as your bank finds out about the petition the company bank account will usually be frozen.

This means that even if you have money to pay the petition debt you might not be able to get access to it leaving you in grave danger of going into compulsory liquidation.

Reforms are needed to the current company voluntary arrangement (CVA) process, according to both R3 and the British Property Federation (BPF).

R3 (the trade association for the UK’s insolvency, restructuring, advisory, and turnaround professionals) has published a research report recommending a number of reforms to improve the effectiveness and reputation of CVAs. These include:

Welcome to the results of our third annual Pensions in Restructuring Survey.

This year's survey gathers views on the issues with pensions in corporate restructuring, with a particular focus on the points arising from the Department for Work and Pensions' recent white paper, "Protecting Defined Benefit Pension Schemes".

The new Insolvency Practice Direction came into force on 25 April 2018. Some of the key changes to the Practice Direction include: 

British department store House of Fraser have announced plans to close 31 stores across the UK, placing thousands of jobs at risk. Proposals have been filed for Company Voluntary Arrangements ("CVA") of House of Fraser (Stores) Ltd and House of Fraser Ltd which it claimed are central to the significant restructuring of the business.

In May, it was announced that the parent group of House of Fraser would sell a 51% stake to the Chinese owner of Hamleys, C.Banner International, who would inject £70 million into the business.

The High Court has released an important decision for landlords and Insolvency Practitioners in the wake of the failure of the company voluntary arrangement (CVA) entered into by BHS Limited (BHS).

The Facts

Mr Reynard, a bankrupt, made an claim against his Trustee, Mr Fox. Mr Reynard acted in person at all times and issued proceedings at the county court money claims centre for breach of contract and negligence, asserting that his Trustee had failed to assess potential claims properly and had incorrectly valued the claims, and therefore had failed to take action.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has been conducting a review of the operation of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), seeking views as to how to reduce the number and value of claims falling to the FSCS and assessing how the scheme is funded, including the impact of professional indemnity insurance (PII).