Intro

The UK insolvency regime has changed. Our earlier alert set out a brief overview of the changes. This is note provides more detail and flags some practical steps that the suppliers of goods and services may wish to consider.

In a nutshell

Navigating the road between regulatory compliance and business rescue

When dealing with a goods vehicle operator in an insolvency context:

European Union

Lenders contemplating potential claims against insurers of insolvent professionals will welcome the fact that the Third Parties (Rights Against Insurers) Act 2010 (2010 Act) is to finally come into force from 1 August 2016, having been updated by the Third Parties (Rights Against Insurers) Regulations 2016.

With APCOA Parking, the English High Court sets out the latest line of authority in the increasing use of schemes of arrangement by foreign companies.

This case, APCOA Parking (UK) Limited & Ors [2014] EWHC 997 (Ch), presents two novel aspects:

As previously described in our Alert of Oct.

The Joint Administrators (the “Administrators”) of Lehman Brothers International (Europe) (“LBIE”) announced on Oct. 5, 2009, that they are developing a contractual (i.e., non-judicial) alternative to their proposed Scheme of Arrangement, which is the subject of an appeal following a decision by the High Court in London that it lacks jurisdiction to implement the scheme.

The Prior Proposed Scheme of Arrangement

On July 14, 2009, the Joint Administrators of Lehman Brothers International (Europe) ("LBIE"), made an application to the High Court in London with respect to a Scheme of Arrangement (the "Scheme") (the UK administration’s analogue to a Chapter 11 plan of reorganization) designed to provide procedures to be used by LBIE for the purpose of returning so-called “trust property” held by LBIE to certain of its customers (“Creditors”). Among the primary purposes of the Scheme is the desire to avoid the need for a case-by-case resolution of the claims made by LBIE's Creditors.

In his Pre-Budget Report delivered on 24 November 2008, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling announced the Government’s intention to introduce special insolvency procedures for investment firms holding client assets or client money.  

The procedures will be introduced by secondary legislation under the Banking Bill (which was introduced into Parliament in October 2008) following a government sponsored review by an expert liaison group.  

The review, to be concluded by summer 2009, will consider, inter alia:  

Following a long line of cases preceding it, the English court in Re Van Gansewinkel Groep BV (‘VGG’) 1 has sanctioned a (solvent) English scheme of arrangement (‘Scheme’) under the Companies Act 2006 (the ‘Companies Act’) proposed by a group of foreign companies whose COMI2 and assets were located outside of England (‘foreign companies’).