Matt Howard
Partner
Support for companies
Giving you practical advice, answers and options
Expert evaluation when you need it most
Whether your business is facing financial difficulty or has come to the end of its trading life, it’s important to evaluate all your options.
We strongly recommend you engage with professionals at the first sign of an issue. It is likely that the overall outcome will be far more positive the sooner you seek advice.
The first step is assessing your business – and this is where we come in. We can carry out a thorough, independent review that focuses on highlighting the trading issue and getting your business back on track. So you can look forward to becoming financially secure once more, or at least identify the most practical alternative.
Here’s where we can help:
Moratorium
The moratorium is a tool available to distressed companies (both solvent and insolvent), to provide them with a short breathing space, free from creditor action, while plans are formed to rescue the company.
During the moratorium, the existing management continue to run the company. Our licensed insolvency practitioners can act as ‘monitor’ during this period and work with management to save the business.
Although repayments which would normally fall due during a moratorium must continue to be paid, other debts are frozen, and creditors are not able to carry out enforcement actions. The moratorium lasts for an initial 20 business days. After that it can be extended by up to a year.
The plans put in place during the moratorium will depend on the particular circumstances, but it could involve entering into a Company Voluntary Arrangement.
Administration
Administration is a corporate insolvency procedure used to support business rescue, often by looking to sell the business and its assets as a going concern.
Our licensed insolvency practitioners can work with you to formulate a plan leading up to them being appointed as Administrators. Once appointed, the running of the company’s affairs, business and property are managed by the Administrators. While a company is in administration, creditors are prevented from taking any actions against it except with the permission of the court.
As with any insolvency procedure, the overarching aim is to act in the best interests of creditors and achieve the best outcome possible for stakeholders.
Administrations have a statutory length of 12 months, although this can be extended if necessary with the agreement of creditors, or the permission of the court. They can also last for under 12 months if the administrator judges that there is no need for the administration to last any longer, provided that creditors agree.
Once the objective of the administration is achieved, the company often moves to another corporate insolvency procedure, such as a Company Voluntary Agreement (CVA) or Creditors Voluntary Liquidation (CVL).
Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA)
A Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) involves a company’s directors making a proposal to creditors in order to satisfy its debt, typically to save the company.
CVAs are an extremely flexible insolvency tool. For example, a CVA may involve a restructuring of the business, or an orderly disposal of assets or parts of the business and delayed or reduced payments of debt. Creditors have a vote on the terms of the procedure before it begins but, once approved, it is a legally binding agreement between the company and its creditors.
Whilst the process is overseen and supervised by a licensed insolvency practitioner, unlike Administration, the directors normally continue to run the company throughout the process.
Our insolvency practitioners can work with you, initially acting as a ‘nominee’ (prior to the CVA’s approval) and then ‘supervisor’ (after approval). As a nominee, the insolvency practitioner will assist with the drafting of the proposal to be put to creditors and ensure it meets the legal requirements. As a ‘supervisor’ they will check whether the terms of the CVA are being met by the company.
Voluntary liquidations ( MVL and CVL)
When your company is no longer viable, it can be wound up voluntarily via two different liquidation procedures.
Members’ Voluntary Liquidation (MVL) is a solvent liquidation, where the company has sufficient assets to pay all its liabilities in full, together with interest at the statutory rate, within 12 months. We can act as liquidator to help realises the company’s assets, pay off all creditors and returns any surplus to the shareholders.
Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation (CVL) is an insolvent liquidation, where the company’s assets are insufficient to pay creditors in full. When there is no prospect of rescuing a company, it may be necessary to call meetings to appoint a licensed insolvency practitioners as Liquidator. Once appointed as Liquidators, we take control of the company and wind down its affairs. Our role is to realise all of the company’s assets and distribute the maximum return to creditors and shareholders in order of priority set down by law.
Compulsory liquidation
Compulsory Liquidation is the process where the court orders that the Company is wound up following a petition being presented (by creditors or the company directors). The Official Receiver (an government official) is initially appointed Liquidator although they may subsequently be replaced by a licensed insolvency practitioner. We often act for creditors where a winding up order has been made against a company. rs.
Fixed charge receivership
Fixed charge receivership is a process available to lenders in order to take control of certain assets. The receiver is appointed by a lender with a mortgage, charge or other security over real property or other specified assets. They will generally have broad powers to realise assets and, when dealing with real property, to collect rent.
The Law of Property Act 1925 also allows banks and private lenders, who have secured their loans through a fixed legal charge over a property, to appoint a receiver (commonly known as an LPA Receiver) to deal with the charged property where there has been a default.
The main objective is to recover the debt owed to the lender. However, the statutory powers of an LPA Receiver are limited to collecting income from the property (including rent) and insuring it. These are therefore usually supplemented by additional powers from the legal charge document itself, which more often than not will include powers to sell or refinance the property.
Our licensed insolvency practitioners have wide ranging experience in acting as Receivers.
Receivership
Although now relatively uncommon, Receivership is where a licensed insolvency practitioner is appointed as an Administrative Receiver is appointed by a creditor, usually a bank, which has security over most of a company’s assets.
This normally happens when the creditor has issued a formal demand for payment and not been paid. The Receiver then realises and distributes the company’s assets on behalf of creditors. Their job is complete once they realise all the assets subject to the appointor’s charge, or sufficient assets to repay the appointor in full.
Our licensed insolvency practitioners have wide ranging experience in acting as Receivers.
Our insolvency practitioners operate through Price Bailey LLP. For information about our regulatory status see www.pricebailey.co.uk/legal.
We can help
Contact us today to find out more about how we can help you
