BUSINESS AND PROPERTY COURTS
OF ENGLAND AND WALES
INSOLVENCY AND COMPANIES LIST
COMPANIES COURT (ChD)
IN THE MATTER OF THE COMPANIES ACT 2006
Fetter Lane, London EC4A 1NL |
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B e f o r e :
(Sitting as a High Court Judge)
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In the Matter of Praesidiad Limited |
Applicant |
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MR ZALUVAKO (Head of the Legal Department of Bank GPB International SA represented (with the permission of the Judge pursuant to CPR 39.6 and all other enabling powers) Bank GPB International SA (a creditor)
Hearing date: 17 October 2023
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Crown Copyright ©
SIR ALASTAIR NORRIS:
At present not all SFA lenders have participated in the IFA. If the scheme is approved the IFA will be elevated to a super senior status. Participation in the IFA will be available until 7 PM on the date of the scheme meeting. In principle this does not fracture the class: Re Chaptre Finance plc [2023] EWHC 1665 and Re Hilding Anders International AB [2023] EWHC 2291. There is nothing out of the ordinary about the instant case.
Scheme creditors other than Bank GPB have entered into a Turnover Deed under which sums received by the facilities agent shall (save in the case of Bank GPB) be applied first towards amounts due under the IFA rather than rateably with amounts due under the SFA. Such an arrangement affects the rights of creditors inter se and does not affect rights as between creditors and the Company. In principle this does not fracture the class: Re APCOA Parking Holdings GmbH [2015] Bus LR 374. There is nothing out of the ordinary about the instant case.
A consent fee of 3% of the principal amount due to a lender under the SFA was payable to every lender who entered into the Lock-up Agreement or a similar arrangement. It was available to all SFA lenders and is payable at a rate and at a time that is unlikely to exert a material influence upon any voting decision. Bank GPB was unable to participate because of the Sanctions Regulations. In principle this does not fracture the class: Re Primacom Holdings GmbH [2013] BCC 201. There is nothing out of the ordinary about the instant case.
There are certain differences in terms between the various elements of the SFA e.g., as to maturity. These are not so significant as to make it impossible for the SFA lenders to consult together upon the key matters for decision in relation to the proposed scheme (particularly since maturity dates would be irrelevant in the context of an accelerated sale within an administration). In principle these differences do not fracture a class: KCA Deutag UK Finance plc [2020] EWHC 2779. There is nothing out of the ordinary about the instant case.
The Company has agreed to pay the fees of the legal and financial advisers of the Ad Hoc group whatever the outcome of the application for approval of the proposed scheme. In principle this does not fracture the class: Re Codere Finance 2 (UK) Ltd (supra). There is nothing out of the ordinary about the instant case.
The scheme gives the major shareholders in the new Topco certain board nomination rights. It does so by reference not to rights attaching to their shares but by the reference to the size of their shareholding. Those having the nomination rights may thus vary from time to time, the nomination rights being simply a function of the quantum of debt held by a scheme creditor. The nominated director will in any event have a fiduciary duty to act in the best interests of the Company and its stakeholders as a whole. In principle this does not fracture the class: Re PizzaExpress Financing 2 Ltd [2020] EWHC 2873. There is nothing out of the ordinary about the instant case.
"(a) uses, alters, moves, transfers or allows access to the funds;
(b) deals with the funds in any other way that would result in a change in volume, amount, location, ownership, possession, character or destination; or
(c) makes any other change, including portfolio management, that would enable use of the funds".
"… [T]here is a fundamental distinction between a scheme conferring different rights on different groups of creditors [and] a scheme conferring the same rights of all creditors.. but [where] some creditors are unable to enjoy those rights by virtue of some personal characteristic that they possess".
(See also Re Noble Group Ltd [2019] BCC 349 at [105] per Snowden J (as he then was)).