Insolvency Blog -
Government’s missed opportunity to reduce red tape
Date: 3rd September, 2012 | Author: Chris Laughton | Comments: 0
The Telegraph reports “Insolvency Service reform scrapped - the Government has scrapped plans to reform the process that leads to rogue directors being struck off.” Apparently in order to “reduce red tape for the smallest companies”, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has shelved an initiative to streamline the process of insolvency practitioners (many of whom are micro businesses) reporting directors’ misconduct. How red tape can be reduced by not streamlining a burdensome regulatory process is beyond me! ...
Mercer & Hole’s strategy approved at creditors’ meeting for fitness shoe brand
Date: 17th July, 2012 | Author: Maria Bailey | Comments: 0
Creditors collectively approved Mercer & Hole’s strategy for the administration of Masai GB Limited at yesterday’s creditors meeting. Chris Laughton and Peter Godfrey-Evans of Mercer & Hole had been appointed in May 2012 as joint administrators of the UK distributor for the high-street shoe brand MBT with stores and concessions throughout the UK. The administrators had the company continue to trade for as long as stocks were available and costs could be controlled tightly. The result was 2 months of profitable trading, during which some of the 53-strong workforce could continue to be employed. The prospects for...
Insolvency law in the frontline
Date: 12th July, 2012 | Author: Chris Laughton | Comments: 0
This week’s peer panel in The Lawyer highlights some of the current issues facing the insolvency profession. A key theme is the disappointing lack of UK legislative development. The administration expenses regime is crying out for statutory intervention to restore administration as the tool of the rescue culture that it was designed to be. UK insolvency professionals are adept at using constructively the tools they have, as evidenced by the increasingly productive use of CVAs and schemes of arrangement, but we could do so much more if the legislature was prepared to engage constructively and...
Summary of ‘European Insolvency Regulation Debate’ at The Supreme Court
Date: 9th July, 2012 | Author: Chris Laughton | Comments: 0
Motion defeated – the message was clear, let the UK get on with getting it right Conflicting views and passionate discussions marked INSOL Europe’s debate on the European Insolvency Regulation at the UK’s Supreme Court on Friday 6 July 2012, chaired by Chris Laughton, a restructuring and insolvency partner at Mercer & Hole, Chartered Accountants, which concluded that “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Over 50 leading insolvency experts from the UK and a variety of other European countries participated in the debate. INSOL Europe’s proposals for significant...
Supreme Court Debate on the European Insolvency Regulation
Date: 6th July, 2012 | Author: Chris Laughton | Comments: 0
Chairing a debate in the Supreme Court on INSOL Europe’s proposals to the European Commission about revision of the European Insolvency Regulation should liven up my Friday afternoon! Robert van Galen and David Marks QC are to propose the motion “This House believes that detailed substantive and technical changes to the European Insolvency Regulation, as proposed by INSOL Europe, are now required”. They will be opposed by Gabriel Moss QC and Felicity Toube QC. An invited audience from the profession, press, judiciary, legislature and regulators, as well as academia, will determine the winners! The principal areas...
Proposed repeal of early discharge from Bankruptcy
Date: 5th July, 2012 | Author: Steve Smith | Comments: 0
The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill is currently being debated in the House of Commons. The main areas of reform in the Bill include changes to competition policy and law, employment law and reducing regulation. Included in a “miscellaneous” schedule is, however, a provision to repeal s279(2) of the Insolvency Act 1986, which is the part of the Act that enables the Official Receiver to grant early discharge to bankrupts i.e. prior to the automatic discharge after one year. The stated intention behind the early discharge provisions was to benefit those bankrupts who fully co-operated with the Official...
Administration of Masai GB Limited and UK distributor of MBT (Masai Barefoot Technology) footwear
Date: 17th May, 2012 | Author: Maria Bailey | Comments: 0
At 12 noon today, Chris Laughton and Peter Godfrey-Evans of Mercer & Hole were appointed as joint administrators of Masai GB Limited. The £8 million turnover company is the UK distributor of MBT (Masai Barefoot Technology) footwear and has 10 stores and a number of concessions throughout the UK. Following the filing for bankruptcy in Switzerland of the group’s parent company (Masai Marketing & Trading AG) on Monday 7 May 2012, Masai GB Ltd went into administration on Thursday 17 May 2012. Chris Laughton and Peter Godfrey-Evans will be working with the company’s management and staff to sell the business and...
TUPE damages employees’ and the UK’s interests
Date: 13th April, 2012 | Author: Chris Laughton | Comments: 0
The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employees) legislation is so restrictive that business value (and hence employees' interests as creditors), businesses' ability to continue (ie jobs) and opportunities to undertake international restructurings in the UK using administration are all suffering. I am writing from an AIJA (International Association of Young Lawyers) conference in Prague, where I have been speaking and am representing INSOL Europe. Discussions over the last 24 hours both on and off the platform have highlighted to me that the UK's implementation of the EC Acquired Rights Directive is so flawed as to not only render the UK...
Withdrawal of Extra-Statutory Concession C16 (ESC 16)
Date: 19th March, 2012 | Author: Steve Smith | Comments: 0
The Government has introduced new legislation into the Corporation Tax Acts covering Extra-Statutory Concession C16 (ESC C16) which took effect on 1 March 2012. Previously, with the prior consent of HMRC, distributions to shareholders as part of an informal winding-up prior to a company being struck off the Companies Register, were taxed as a capital receipt. The new Order [1] caps the limit of total distributions which can be treated as such at £25,000. Readers will recall that the Treasury Solicitor’s office withdrew its guidelines [2] in October 2011 relating to their recovery of assets with a value of less than £4,000 following...
Has the rescue culture lost its way?
Date: 11th February, 2012 | Author: Chris Laughton | Comments: 0
Responding to the question raised in my last post, New law, insolvency regulation and the rescue culture, a former colleague, Paul Brindley, believes that the rescue culture has lost its way: Chris In my view the rescue culture has lost its way. There are three reasons for this: 1) The law regarding financial support directions was drafted purposely to enable creditors, not the government and not the pension fund industry generally, to meet final salary shortfalls. For the last twenty odd years every government has seen final salary schemes as an additional taxable opportunity; 2) Legislation often has unintended...
