The application before Richard Smith J in Re Prezzo Investco Ltd (Re Companies Act 2006) [2023] EWHC 1679 (Ch) was for sanction of a restructuring plan between the company and certain of its creditors under ss 901F and 901G of Part 26A Companies Act 2006.

Since the United Kingdom implemented the National Security and Investment Act in January 2022 ("NSI Regime"), there has been a significant increase in state intervention in, and review of, business transactions in the United Kingdom, including for international transactions involving targets with limited activities in the United Kingdom.

This guide should not be relied on as a definitive guide to the legislation and should not be relied on as legal advice. The particular circumstances of any situation will need to be considered to determine if the overseas entity is one that is captured by the legislation, if the estate is a qualifying estate, and whether the beneficial owners need to be registered. As a result, this guide is intended only as a high-level overview.

This guide covers the position of property and land situated in England and Wales only. 

The Moveable Transactions (Scotland) Bill aims to modernise and simplify the process for taking fixed security over moveable assets in Scotland.

Once enacted, Insolvency Practitioners (IPs) may begin to see real changes in certain aspects of the management of formal insolvency processes in Scotland. This insight sets out a high-level summary of the potential impact of the Bill for IPs if enacted in its present form.

1. Additional opportunities for refinancing

With HMRC more focused than ever before on recovering taxes due, we look at the most common ways in which HMRC can transfer the liability of taxes due and/or penalties to Company Officers and making them personally liable.

The Government has promised to spend an additional £79 million over the next five years to help HMRC tackle tax fraud and address compliance risks amongst wealthy taxpayers. HMRC's efforts will be a threat to businesses affected in terms of costs and expenditure in time in dealing with HRMC.

Amendments to Guernsey's corporate insolvency legislation give liquidators more investigative powers and permit liquidators and administrators to set aside transactions at undervalue.

One of the most powerful investigative weapons in any liquidator's armoury is the ability to compel the production from third parties of information and documents regarding the affairs of the company. Until recently, the precise scope of the liquidator's ability to seek production of such information or documents in Guernsey has been uncertain, relying on ill-defined common law powers.

HFW DISPUTES DIGEST 2022 Welcome to our first annual digest, in which we collate our 2022 global HFW LITIGATION and International Arbitration publications in one place. This edition includes updates from the whole Disputes arena across England, AsiaPac, and the Middle East. HFW is one of the world’s largest and most active disputes practices, litigation is in our DNA. We have more than 350 specialist disputes lawyers in offices across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and AsiaPac.

Company directors owe several fiduciary duties, one of which is to act in the best interest of shareholders. But to what extent does that duty to shareholders apply in the context of the financial health of the company? The award-winning commercial and litigation lawyers at ParrisWhittaker are experienced in advising company directors on their duties, including where there are concerns around the lawfulness of paying dividends.

On the 9 of March earlier this year, the Court of Appeal (Civil Division) in the UK dismissed an appeal and confirmed that when an electronic money institution (“EMI”) is placed into administration, it was not necessary to impose a statutory trust in order to fulfil the purposes of the safeguarding provisions under EMD (Electronic Money Directive 2009/110) and PSDII (Payment Services Directive 2015/2366) considering that the spirit of both Directives was solely to preserve the sums paid by the EMI’s customers in the case of insolvency and against its other creditors.

Further to sanction of the DeepOcean restructuring plans on 13 January 2021, on 28 January 2021 Mr Justice Trower (Trower, J) handed down his judgment setting out why – for the first time – the court had exercised its discretion to sanction a restructuring plan in the face of a dissenting class of creditors.