Welcome to the Summer edition of our combined finance, restructuring and insolvency bulletin. This combined edition covers both banking & finance and restructuring & insolvency matters for our lucky readers.
COVID restrictions are lifted. Masks are no longer mandatory. People who had previously worked from home are returning to the workplace. Does this mean everything is straight back to normal for the economy and the world of business? Of course not.
There remains considerable uncertainty about how the lifting of restrictions on winding-up petitions (due to expire at the end of September) will work in the context of the extended restrictions on forfeiture and commercial rent arrears recovery (due to continue to March 2022). Will landlords hold fire on taking enforcement action against defaulting tenants pending conclusion of the new binding arbitration process for resolving COVID-related rent arrears? Or will they seek to wind up their tenants from 1 October? Also, the eagle-eyed among you will have noted that there has yet been little clarity on what the new arbitration process will actually look like.
On the banking and finance side, strong M&A activity is driving an active market. Deals are being done! We are also starting to see the adoption of SONIA in some new loans, with other lenders opting to use the base rate as LIBOR drops away. It’s great to see that sustainability-linked finance is enjoying increased visibility and popularity.
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Jonathan Porteous
Tim Carter
David Steinberg
Andrew Dodds