IPA exclusive industry update from Insolvency Insider

IPA Insolvency Practitioner newsletter, September 2023

Contents

• Paul Smith, CEO
• Paul Davis, President
• IPA statement on the Government response to the Future of Insolvency Regulation consultation
• New SAR Portal launch
• UK sanctions members of Russian cybercrime gang
• Spotlight on Anti-Money Laundering and Fraud (CPD: 5h)
• IPA Learning | Pension Claims in Insolvency – Are You Getting it Right? (CPD: 2h)
• Just over a month to go until our Northern Ireland Roadshow in Belfast (CPD: 4h)
• We finish 2023’s Roadshows in London with a corporate and cross-border focused event (CPD: 4h)
• IPA Learning | Corporate Insolvency Update 2023 (CPD: 2h)
• Personal Insolvency Conference 2023 – programme announced! (CPD: 6h)
• Do you know someone in the profession who deserves recognition this year?
• IPA member offers from training providers (member login required to view)
• Save money on your airport parking with APH! (Member login required to view)
• Need new IT products? Claim exclusive IPA membership offers from Dell
• Discounted meeting facilities from Office Space in Town (member login required to view)
• An opportunity for Registered Property Receivers!
• Case law update

A specially curated selection of the top stories for IPA members from Insolvency Insider Editor, Henry Louis. More information on all the stories and the link to subscribe to the newsletter is here.

Filings

• Babylon Health Limited, the digital healthcare company behind the NHS GP at Hand app which employs more than 650 people in Britain, and Babylon Partners Limited, its research and artificial intelligence division, entered administration on 29 August 2023. Although the company was at one time valued at more than £3.1billion, it has been losing value since attempting to expand into the US and after its claims about the AI behind its app were questioned by healthcare experts. Administrators from A&M said the clinical services business, which includes GP at Hand, was sold solvently to US digital health business eMed Healthcare, and that appointment of Administrators over the UK business was to facilitate a sale to eMed. Kroll Trustee Services Limited has several registered charges against Babylon Partners.
• BCQ Group Limited, a family-owned, Buckingham-based print production and multichannel marketing company, entered administration on 14 August 2023. The company was burdened by its Covid debt, having taken out two CBILS loans totalling £900,000 in 2021. It entered administration after HSBC, the company’s secured creditor, discovered that it had over-advanced over £700,000 to the company. Immediately on the appointment of Paul Meadows and Matthew Cowlishaw of Teneo as Joint Administrators, a pre-pack sale to Bidco 123 (a company owned by Pollards) for consideration of approximately £3m was completed.
• Vinoteca Limited, a wine bar group which was founded in 2005 and operates five London bars, entered administration on 18 August 2023, after being impacted by the pandemic and lower customer traffic due to train strikes. Immediately following their appointment, Joint Administrators Ryan Grant and Tim Bateson of Interpath sold the company’s business and certain assets to an entity owned by Breal Capital Limited, saving all 150 jobs. Metro Bank PLC has several registered charges against the company.

Recent articles

• The team at Opus warn that there is a worrying industry-wide increase in the financial vulnerability of the UK retail sector, especially for smaller operators, who bear the brunt of the financial risk in the sector.
• Kirsten Fulton-Fleming of Taylor Wessing looks at how the temporary measures introduced by CIGA have taken shape over the last three years, and considers the reasons behind the lack of uptake.
• Rachael Reynolds, Joe Bannister and Kevin Hawthorn of DAC Beachcroft look at recent retail insolvencies and conclude that the pendulum seems to be swinging away from retail CVAs back towards retail administrations.

Please note that guest content does not necessarily represent the views of the IPA.