Restructuring Plans

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Spurred on by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the government pushed through the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (CIGA 2020).

Among the reforms, CIGA 2020, s 7 and Sch 9 introduced a Part 26A of the Companies Act 2006 (CA 2006)—Arrangements and Reconstructions for Companies in Financial Difficulty (an RP). In June 2022, the Government’s review concluded that the RP has largely met its objectives.

On 23 January 2024, the Court of Appeal handed down its decision in Re AGPS BondCo plc; sub nom Strategic Value Capital Solutions Master Fund LP v AGPS BondCo plc, setting aside the previous sanction order for the restructuring plan. Snowden LJ delivered the leading judgment (with which Nugee LJ and Sir Nicholas Patten agreed) and held that the RP was unfair because it was contrary to the pari passu principle. Snowden LJ gives guidance on many aspects of RPs including (among other things): time-tabling, classes, fair allocation of the restructuring surplus, how cross class cramdown (CCCD) should be applied and the horizontal and vertical comparators. The court also cautioned that ED&F Man is not authority for

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Latest Restructuring & Insolvency News

Insolvency Service reports 11-year director ban for BBL fraud

The Insolvency Service has reported the disqualification of building contractor Tahir Haq from serving as a company director for 11 years, accompanied by mandated compensation payments totalling £58,963 (including interest and costs). Haq obtained a £50,000 bounce back loan (BBL) for Integral Maintenance Team Ltd by overstating his company's turnover by £200,000, despite the company being entitled to only around £3,000. The disqualification, effective from 1 July 2025, prohibits Haq from promoting, forming, or managing any company without prior court approval.

Disputed debt and conversion of members’ voluntary liquidation to creditors’ voluntary liquidation (Noal SCSp and others v Novalpina Capital LLP (in members voluntary liquidation) and others)

Restructuring & Insolvency analysis: This judgment confirms that, if a company in members’ voluntary liquidation (MVL) is unable to pay its debts in full together with interest at the official rate within the period stated in the directors’ declaration made under section 89 of the Insolvency Act 1986 (IA 1986), then the company must be placed into creditors’ voluntary liquidation (CVL). There is no solvency test to justify varying this period. The company is already in liquidation and the liquidator has no discretion with regard to having to act under IA 1986, s 95 to convert the MVL to a CVL. Written by Andrew Mace, barrister at Tanfield Chambers.

Issue 168 of Insolvency Service’s Dear IP published

The Insolvency Service reports that the Information Sharing (Disclosure by the Registrar) Regulations 2024 (SI 2024/1378), effective from 20 December 2024, will enable the Registrar of Companies to disclose non-public information to insolvency practitioners (IPs) and The Financial Conduct Authority has published updated guidance (FG25/2) for IPs handling regulated firms, incorporating Consumer Duty requirements. Following the Pindar Scarborough Ltd (in Administration) [2024] EWHC 908 and Boughey & Anor v Toogood International Transport and Agricultural Service Ltd (in administration) [2024] EWHC 1425 court judgments, the Insolvency Service has revised its interpretation of 'creditor' status in terms of the Insolvency Act 1986 (IA 1986), adopting a context-specific approach rather than maintaining its previous fixed-point definition.

The Supreme Court tweaks Etridge (Waller Edwards v One Savings Bank plc)

Property Disputes analysis: English property law periodically produces epoch-making decisions of the highest court. In years to come, Waller Edwards v One Savings Bank plc may well become such a decision. It enjoys the respectable jurisprudential lineage of three famous House of Lords’ decisions: Barclays Bank v O’Brien, CIBC Mortgages v Pitt, and Royal Bank of Scotland v Etridge, but it also applies established principles in a novel way. Written by Marc Beaumont, Windsor Chambers.

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