Gormenghastian Gloom
Today’s Accountancy Age highlights the gloom in the UK insolvency market as corporate and personnel insolvencies continue to decline. “Gormenghastian gloom pervades insolvency market”, its headline screams. “There is a greater focus on value for money” comments one IP. Another quotes “it’s all down to pragmatism-in many cases creditors are choosing to get something back […]
BBC Panorama: Did the Bank Wreck My Business
Interesting 30 minute programme by the BBC Panorama team looking at the actions of banks when a company is in distress. This is available via this link on BBC iPlayer until 23rd November 2015. Please note you may not be able to access this from outside the UK. Click here for BBC iPlayer Panorama David […]
Conflicts again?
Interesting news over the weekend that four people have been detained as a result of the ongoing investigation into the alleged fraudulent acquisition of Rangers Football Club. It has since been confirmed that three are partners from the firm appointed to handle the administration of the club when it became insolvent in 2012. It is not […]
Congratulations!
BM&T would like to pay tribute to the work of its US partner organisation, Conway MacKenzie, in supporting the restructuring of Detroit’s debt. The city of Detroit filed for bankruptcy last summer – the largest municipal bankruptcy filing in US history – but earlier this month a US judge confirmed the city’s plan to adjust $18 billion of […]
Conflicts of Interest (cont)
Following on from the last blog post, Fiona Woolf has now resigned. The perceived conflict led to victims groups saying they had no confidence in the enquiry and at that point her position became untenable. All a bit predictable and just goes to prove that it is the perception of a conflict that destroys trust […]
Conflicts of Interest
At BM&T we have long been concerned about the conflicts of interest that exist in the UK with Insolvency Practitioners (IP’s) acting as advisers pre-insolvency and then being appointed as Administrator when the business goes into Administration (see earlier blog re Comet). Cynics will always suggest formal insolvency is the result the IP wants. Similarly, […]
Phones 4U Hangs Up
Following on from the previous blog entry, it is interesting that the bondholders tried to mount a rescue by offering a substantial debt to equity swap. Ultimately it appears this has failed. Trying to do this after the business has gone into Administration means it was probably too late to succeed. Such consensual techniques are […]
Phones 4U
Another high profile retail chain goes into Administration. At first sight, not an unusual story but it appears this one has not happened for the usual reasons. Normally we hear stories of falling sales, the impact of internet shopping, out of town retailers destroying the high street etc. In this case the problem is the […]
Update on GRG
News this week confirmed that RBS is being sued in a class action by a number of small firms and their shareholders. They claim they were the alleged victims of unlawful actions by GRG. Is this yet another banking scandal where short termism, distorted ethical values and disregard of customer service has come back to […]
What gives with GRG?
Following the Tomlinson report RBS’s Global Restructuring Group (GRG) has been very much in the spotlight. The allegation that it deliberately put many small businesses into insolvency to pick up assets at a knock down price is a serious one. The report also suggested that staff in GRG were incentivised to charge large fees and […]
