IPA exclusive industry update from Insolvency Insider
IPA Insolvency Practitioner newsletter, November 2024
A specially curated selection of the top stories for IPA members from Insolvency Insider Editor, Dina Kovacevic. More information on all the stories and the link to subscribe to the newsletter is here.
Recent Insolvencies
Thames Water Utilities, Britain’s biggest water supplier, has launched a Part 26A restructuring plan to address its US$19.6 billion in debt, while also announcing a proposed transaction to extend its liquidity runway, including up to £3 billion of new money in addition to access to cash reserves and debt extensions. The new debt package keeps the company funded until October 2025, giving it a year to complete its debt restructuring. The company expects that the restructuring plan will be proposed by Thames Water’s parent, Thames Water Utilities Holdings, with the sanction hearing anticipated to take place in January 2025. Linklaters is reportedly advising the company.
Inverness Caledonian Thistle, a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland, entered voluntary administration on 22 October, after facing losses of £1.2 million last season. An online fundraising campaign managed to raise about £87,000, but fell short of the target of £200,000, which would only have staved off administration until the end of October. James Stephen, Malcolm Cohen and Shane Crooks of BDO were appointed joint administrators and are working to secure the long-term future of the club by attempting to find new owners. Four players have reportedly been made redundant. James Morrison, Gordon Munro, the Bank of Scotland and Clydesdale Bank have registered charges against the club.
PSG SIPP, a self-invested personal pension operator authorised and regulated by the FCA, had most of its assets purchased out of administration by Alltrust Services, an established provider of trusteeship and administration services for various types of pension schemes. PSG acted as scheme administrator, operating around 5,500 SIPPs with a total investment value of approximately £1.2 billion. Chris Allen and Adam Stephens of Evelyn Partners were appointed joint administrators of PSG on 25 October and immediately completed the sale of PSG’s SIPP business, excluding its Unity SIPP scheme, to Alltrust. They also agreed with London & Colonial Services for a transfer of PSG’s Unity SIPP business, which is expected to complete in January 2025 at the latest. All PSG employees transferred to Alltrust. Osborne Clarke, led by Will Gunston and Noline Matemera, acted as legal advisers to the joint administrators on the sale; Addleshaw Goddard, led by Karl Clowry, acted as legal advisers to Alltrust; and Withers, led by Harvey Knight, acted as legal advisers to London & Colonial.
Insights
Omar Salah, James Stonebridge, Bas van Hooijdonk and Jan de Wit of Norton Rose Fulbright examine McDermott’s parallel restructuring proceedings in the UK and the Netherlands, sharing that the case might mark a first step towards reconsidering the rights of out-of-the-money creditors in an English restructuring plan, Omar Salah, James Stonebridge, Bas van Hooijdonk and Jan de Wit of Norton Rose Fulbright examine McDermott’s parallel restructuring proceedings in the UK and the Netherlands, sharing that the case might mark a first step towards reconsidering the rights of out-of-the-money creditors in an English restructuring plan.
Jessica Williams and Megan McCarthy of Mishcon de Reya look at a recent decision of the High Court considering what constitutes a “genuine and serious” cross-claim for the purposes of securing an injunction to restrain presentation of a winding up petition.
Stephen Goderski of PKF Littlejohn Advisory looks at the state of the retail industry in the UK, arguing that the number of businesses that fail does not signal the demise of retail in its entirety, but rather a realignment as consumers turn to a more technologically advanced world where shopping is at the convenience of their fingertips.