Practitioners are likely to be familiar with the provisions of The Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (“CIGA 2020”) which introduced new permanent measures to complement the insolvency regime as well as a number of temporary measures to support business dealing with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The recent case of Official Receiver v Deuss [2021] EWHC 1842 (Ch) provides legal and insolvency practitioners with guidance as to the test to be applied when considering whether a third-party costs order should be made against a liquidator who takes steps against an alleged de facto director of the company in liquidation. In this case, the step concerned was an application for public examination pursuant to section 133(2) of the Insolvency Act 1986 (the Section 133 Application).

Introduction

The UK Supreme Court has today handed down a significant and highly anticipated decision on the interpretation of liquidated damages clauses.

An interview with Mark Byers, Partner and Head of Strategic Relationships, Grant Thornton

What insolvency trends were you seeing before the pandemic?

In this edition of the Going concerns, our Stephenson Harwood restructuring and insolvency team provides a brief update on the newest developments in Singapore, UK and Hong Kong. For Singapore, we update on the "conflict" between the admiralty and insolvency regimes while our London team provides an update on the cutting-edge Part 26A restructuring plans. Last but certainly not least, our Hong Kong team dissects and discusses the significance and impact of the new cooperation mechanism for Hong Kong liquidators and Mainland administrators to seek mutual recognition and assistance.

A recent decision has got the funding community talking and would, if times were different, have led to some water cooler moments. The decision is a mere 19 paragraphs long and, as will become evident, is perhaps as important for what it did not say as for what it did say.

On 28 June 2021, Zacaroli J declined to sanction a restructuring plan (the “Plan”) in respect of Hurricane Energy PLC (the “Company”) under section 901F of the Companies Act 2006 (“CA 2006”). The Company is part of a group whose business is extracting oil stored within fractures in solid rock beneath the sea.

Following our previous alert that considered rent reductions and modifications to lease terms post New Look and Regis, this alert considers what those CVA challenge cases tell landlords about calculating a landlord's claim for voting purposes and the disclosure requirements.

Responses to the HM Treasury call for evidence on the Review of Solvency II

On 1 July HM Treasury published a summary of the responses received to its autumn 2020 call for evidence on the Review of Solvency II.

HM Treasury comments

Many businesses are continuing to struggle as a result of the ongoing pandemic and while many will bounce back, unfortunately others may struggle. If your company’s solvency is at risk or could be in the future, as a director there are various legal issues and responsibilities you need to be aware of.

Here we take a look at directors duties.

What are director’s duties?

Generally, its directors owe the following duties to a company:

• to act bona fide in its interests

• not to act for any personal or collateral purpose