SPAC frenzy holds valuable lessons for the UK May 6, 2021 The explosive growth in Special Acquisition Purpose Company (SPAC) listings – shell companies listed on the stock exchange with the purpose of ‘reversing-in’ to another company and taking it public by the backdoor, has so far been a purely US phenomenon. However, other markets are now catching on. The value of listings by SPACs grew [...]
Archegos set for insolvency as it braces for legal claims from banks May 5, 2021 Archegos is reportedly planning to file for insolvency as banks seek to recoup their losses after the firm failed to meet margin calls. The collapse of the family office, run by former Tiger Asia manager Bill Hwang, in March saw its brokers take a $10bn hit. Nomura posted its biggest quarterly loss in over a [...]
Liberty Steel appoints new restructuring committee as firm seals deal for Australian steelworks May 5, 2021 Sanjeev Gupta’s Liberty Steel has today announced that it will set up a restructuring committee made up of four new directors in a bid to refinance the group after the collapse of Greensill in March. In a statement, the firm, which is a subsidiary of the tycoon’s GFG Alliance, said that the new execs would [...]
High street decline May 5, 2021 With high streets in turmoil and recovery slow, high street graveyards are becoming a common sight across the UK. The past 12 months have not been easy for the vast majority of companies, in particular for those without an online platform. However, the struggle of the high street is not a new problem. Rewind a few years [...]
Future of high streets look bleak as the end of Covid-19 rent debt relief nears May 5, 2021 The future of UK high streets appears bleak today, as 71 per cent of high street businesses expect further job losses without government or landlord support, according to commercial restructuring specialists Cedar Dean. As the end of the rent moratorium approaches, 80 per cent of high street tenants still face ‘unproductive’ discussions with their landlords. [...]
Litigation funders’ cash pipeline hits £2bn for the first time amid growing popularity April 28, 2021 The value of the pipeline of court cases and cash held by top UK litigation funders has hit £2bn for the first time as the asset class grows in popularity. The value held by litigation funders has rocketed in recent years, according to data by law firm RPC, with funding doubling in three years from [...]
Franco Manca owner Fulham Shore says reopening sales beat pre-Covid levels April 23, 2021 Franco Manca owner Fulham Shore said sales had boomed since outside trading at its restaurants reopened, beating pre-Covid levels. Group sales in the week ended 18 April were ahead of the same wee in April 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic hit the UK. Following the “very encouraging” first week of outdoor trading, Fulham Shore said [...]
Greensill’s parent company enters liquidation April 22, 2021 Greensill Capital’s Australian business, which collapsed last month with debts of A$4.9bn, has entered liquidation. Administrator Grant Thornton said creditors had voted by 23 to zero, with a handful of abstentions, to liquidate the parent company of the disgraced supply chain firm. “As of today, the company is now in liquidation,” Grant Thornton said. “The [...]
Pandemic impact: Another 100,000 UK businesses tumble into financial distress April 22, 2021 Almost 100,000 more UK businesses have tumbled into financial distress in the past three months as the impact of the pandemic continued to weigh on firms, according to new research published this morning. The latest quarter Red Flag Alert report by insolvency specialists Begbies Traynor found that around 723,000 businesses were in “significant financial distress” [...]
Supreme Court decision in the FCA Test Case on BI insurance – what does this mean for SMEs? April 21, 2021 The Supreme Court decision in the FCA Test Case on BI insurance has been widely publicised as a resounding success for businesses. Recently published data collated by the FCA, however, shows that as of 13 April 2021 only 39% of the 35,438 policyholders whose Covid-19 Business Interruption (BI) insurance claims have now been accepted by [...]