In this week’s update: the High Court orders scheme creditor meetings to be held by phone, IA guidance on executive pay and a few other items.
Covid-19 is affecting the way people conduct their business, retain their staff, engage with clients, comply with regulations and the list goes on. Read our thoughts on these issues and many others on our dedicated Covid-19 page.
Court allows scheme meetings to be held electronically
On 28 March 2020, the Government proposed certain insolvency law reforms in response to the COVID-19 crisis, including a temporary suspension of wrongful trading provisions for company directors.
The measures are intended to apply retrospectively from 1 March 2020 for three months, and aim to encourage directors to continue to trade during the pandemic.
Assistance available to UK businesses
As the Covid-19 crisis continue to unfold, the UK Government have announced a series of financial assistance packages aimed at easing the financial impact on UK businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The following is a breakdown of the packages introduced by the Government and guidance on how to seek assistance with your business finances. These schemes are subject to change on little or no notice and details are correct as at 28th April 2020.
Loans and Financing
Can a company in liquidation adjudicate? Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering Limited & Anor v Astec Projects Limited, or what happens when an irresistible force meets an immoveable object?
“Art is born when the temporary touched the eternal; the shock of beauty is when the irresistible force hits the immoveable post” G K Chesterton
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and the far reaching and drastic measures implemented in numerous countries around the world, we are receiving an increasing number of insolvency and restructuring enquiries from our clients.
In these unprecedented times there has been much discussion and focus in the property community of the effect of tenants unable to operate their businesses and the risks of widescale insolvencies.
Current market uncertainties related to the Covid-19 pandemic will lead to the insolvency of a number of companies, some of which may feature in your supply chain. It is a timely reminder that when entering into future strategic commercial arrangements with key suppliers (or as part of renegotiating existing ones), how you address the risk of supplier insolvency will be critical. We have prepared a short briefing identifying some of the key considerations and practical remedies (aside from termination) that can help mitigate this risk.
Contacts
Our recent blog discussed the decision in Re Carluccio’s Limited (in administration) [2020] EWHC 88D (Ch) where the Court considered whether administrators would “adopt” the employment contracts of employees they furloughed after the 14 day grace period.
Click here to watch the video.
On Friday 24 April, RPC hosted a 30 minute webinar on the interaction of furloughing and insolvency law.
During this session, our Insolvency Partner Paul Bagon discussed the recent High Court judgement involving Italian restaurant chain Carluccio's, which entered administration at the end of March.