Articles by author
Cineworld: contracting out of a restructuring plan
Can you contract out of being included in a restructuring plan? In English law, that is an issue of considerable interest to borrowers and creditors when considering consensual compromises. It raises important questions about the policy of insolvency and restructuring law, particularly in the context of restructuring plans.
That issue arose in UK Commercial Property Finance Holdings Limited v Cine-UK Limited & Anor [2024] EWHC 2475 (Ch). The court had to grapple with the logic and limits of negative covenants in the zone of Pt 26A of the Companies Act (Pt 26A). Not all of those issues were resolved by the court. Importantly, the court opted not to grasp the nettle and consider whether a negative covenant not to be included in a restructuring plan is enforceable at all.
Ipso facto clauses: the international dimension
This article considers the new provisions in the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (CIGA) on so-called ipso facto clauses and how those provisions interact with cross-border contracts.
1 FEB 2021The Excluded Asset Gap: why floating charges capture realisations of unsecured assets
Will the proceeds of the sale of an asset, excluded from the scope of a floating charge, be captured by that charge when sold by an insolvency practitioner? In this article the authors consider the default position under general law in relation to this issue and what parties should do to ensure their intentions are appropriately reflected when formulating security packages.
1 SEP 2022The spectre of Spectrum: after Avanti and the sliding scale of floating to fixed charges
That case raises interesting practical questions on drafting within existing debentures and especially when considering the increasing prevalence of New York-law governed covenant packages in sponsor-friendly facility agreements and other debt documents. Those documents often include restrictions on the borrower’s ability to dispose of its assets. More importantly, they include exemptions to those restrictions where automatic release of the collateral is granted under the terms of the documents. How far can those exemptions go before a fixed charge is re-characterised? Avanti has clarified that horizon between fixed and floating charges, possibly moving where many commentators thought it had been. It renews the relevance of that horizon for charges in practice . The consequence is that some charges once thought floating are in fact fixed.
1 AUG 2023Case Analysis – April 2023
Richard Salter KC of 3 Verulam Buildings and the University of Oxford reports on a recent banking law case from Hong Kong, Charlotte Eborall of 3 Verulam Buildings reports on a recent banking law case and Paul Fradley of South Square and Matteo Clarkson Maciel report on a recent restructuring law case
1 APR 2023
