28 February 2014
[2014] EWHC 540 (Ch)
Companies Court (Etherton C)

When is a company’s property not its property?

Introduction

Fixed and floating charges – why are they important?

They give a lender a higher position in the queue for the net proceeds of a borrower’s assets in the event of a borrower’s insolvency.

Yesterday the UK Financial Conduct Authority (the “FCA”) published  the final text of some significant changes to the Listing Rules.1 The changes, which will come into force on 16 May 2014, are intended to enhance the effectiveness of the UK listing regime, particularly in situations where the rights of minority shareholders are at risk of being abused, and to address concerns in relation to the potential influence of 

controlling shareholders on UK listed companies, while ensuring that London remains an attractive listing 

venue.

The Insolvency Rules 1986 (“IR 1986”) are to be replaced in their entirety by the Insolvency Rules 2015 (“IR 2015”).

The Insolvency Service has been running a long-standing ‘modernisation’ project to consolidate the 23 amending instruments to IR 1986 and provide a number of substantive amendments to existing insolvency law and practice. 

Key point

When assessing if a company is insolvent on the "cash-flow" basis, the Court will consider not only whether a company manages to meet its debts as they fall due but also how a company does so. A company meeting its debts simply by increasing longer-term debt, will likely be held to be insolvent.

The facts

The recent case of APCOA Parking1 has set a precedent by allowing yet more non-English incorporated debtors to implement financial and corporate restructurings using English schemes of arrangement.

Restrictive covenant - if in doubt, lender should be notified; the costs risk of insolvency proceedings; interim payments; service of claim form; Wragge & Co's banking and finance experts bring you the latest on the cases and issues affecting the lending industry.

Restrictive covenant - if in doubt, lender should be notified

Recent Developments

This update focusses on a range of issues affecting IPs from the past two months, covering the consultation on fees announced in February, the HMRC announced changes to the VAT deregistration regime, when accountants may be required to produce documents under Sections 235 and 256 of the Insolvency Act, and a recent Court of Appeal decision on when a company may be considered to be insolvent for the purpose of Section 238 actions

Consultation on the regulation of Insolvency Practitioners and IPs’ fees