Category: Corporate Recovery & Restructuring
March 2016
Castlebridge Plant Ltd (In Administration)
Author: Nigel Cook
The Scottish Court rejected an application by administrators for an Order allowing them to avoid the need to set aside the prescribed part of the floating charge realisations.
March 2016
Five Star Properties Limited
Author: Nigel Cook
The company Fivestar had been placed into administration and owned a freehold property which had been charged to a secured lender. Following the administration the company was dissolved rather than being placed into administration.
March 2016
Armstrong Brands Limited (In Administration)
Author: Nigel Cook
Armstrong Brands Limited entered into a loan agreement to be supported by a debenture which, if properly executed, would be a “qualifying floating charge”. Both the loan agreement and debenture were signed by the then sole Director and the Company Secretary but left undated and undelivered for some months. By the time the debenture was actually delivered the director had resigned and been replaced.
October 2015
Green -v- Gigi Brooks Limited
This was an application for an administration order by a former director and alleged creditor of the company. The applicant had been excluded from the business by her fellow director. From the facts it appears that the company was a start-up and that its business plan did not anticipate it making a profit for some time.
October 2015
New Rules Under SBEEA 2015
Author: Nigel Cook
There is a hotchpotch of provisions in these Acts containing amendments to the Insolvency Act 1986 and the Rules.
Some provisions have already into effect (as anticipated in our previous IP Alerter) and others have been brought in during October 2015.
October 2015
Ex Turpi Causa Lives
Author: Chris Millar
Ex Turpi Causa (Non Oritur Actio) essentially means that no action should arise based upon an illegal act. This equitable principle has been developed by the Courts over many years, latterly by the House of Lords in Tinsley v Milligan (1994) and Stone & Rolls Limited v Moore Stephens (2009), when the Court struck out a claim against auditors for failing to discover the fraudulent activities of a director, upon the basis that the claimant company was attributed with the illegal activities of that director.
October 2015
English Schemes of Arrangement
Author: Chris Millar
It remains the case that many foreign companies (particularly those with their COMI in the EU) wish to avail themselves of the English Schemes of Arrangement for compromising or re-structuring liabilities. The English Courts have in recent years accepted jurisdiction where they have considered that there is “sufficient connection” with the laws of England.
October 2015
Validation Orders and Good Faith
Author: Nigel Cook
The case of Wilson and 375 Live Limited v SMC Properties Limited was an application for a Validation Order under Section 127 of the Insolvency Act 1986. It was heard by Mr Registrar Briggs. The case involved 375 Live Limited taking a bridging loan and granting a mortgage over freehold property to the lender as security. Under pressure from the lender the company sold the property unaware that prior to completion of the sale HMRC had presented a winding up petition. The purchaser applied to Court for a retrospective Validation Order which was opposed by the liquidator who claimed that the property had been sold at an undervalue and the transaction declared void.
October 2015
Increase in Bankruptcy Level
Author: Laura Marchington
Historically, the service of a Statutory Demand has been the precursor to commencing insolvency proceedings, whether it was bankruptcy proceedings against an individual or a Winding up Petition against a corporate director.
March 2015
Winding Up Petition Backdated
Author: Chris Millar