<p>Filter Knowledge</p>

The abolishment of ground rent in residential long leases comes as part of a package of Government reforms designed to curtail unfair practices in the leasehold market, which we explored in our previous briefing. From 1 April 2023,[1] this applies to all new leases granted with a term of more than 21 years in the senior living sector, though will not impact existing ones. The changes, brought about by the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022 (the Act), have necessitated developers, investors and owners of retirement housing reforming their existing leasehold structures, which have typically relied upon ground rent as a way to recoup the enlarged capital costs of constructing enhanced communal spaces within retirement schemes.

Travers Smith has advised long-standing client Investec on the cash confirmation of the £143.4m takeover bid of speciality bakery manufacturer Finsbury Food Group plc by asset manager and largest shareholder DBAY.

Travers Smith LLP is delighted that its Dispute Resolution team has been awarded "Innovation in Disputes" and its Legal Technology and AI team has won "Innovation in Digital Solutions" at the Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Europe Awards 2023. Additionally, Travers Smith was ranked as the 12^th "Most Innovative Law Firm in Europe".

The European Commission has issued a Targeted Consultation and a Public Consultation on the implementation of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR).  The Consultations include a series of questions on the practical functioning of the SFDR and its possible reform. The EU appears to have recognised that the SFDR is not as user-friendly as it had hoped and is seeking to assess its potential shortcomings and explore potential changes. 

Key employment and business immigration developments for employers.

The Upper Tribunal (UT) has firmly upheld the decision of the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) in the salaried members rules case of HMRC v Bluecrest Capital Management (UK) LLP, rejecting HMRC's call for a narrow interpretation of the "significant influence" exclusion.

In this video, Employment Knowledge Counsel Adam Rice and Anna West take a look at forthcoming developments in employment and immigration law for the rest of 2023 and beyond.

A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry. 

Amid widespread concern about the workings of the housing market in the UK, in February 2023 the Competition and Markets Authority (the "CMA") launched a consumer protection project into the rented housing sector, alongside a separate market study into housebuilding, discussed here.  Whilst acknowledging that some of the problems in the rented housing sector are not within its remit, it has stated its intention to ensure that ineffective competition or unfair business practices do not increase costs, limit choice or reduce quality for tenants. Following an initial 3 month period of engagement, the CMA has published an update report into the rental housing sector which summarises the feedback it has received from a wide variety of stakeholders, and identifies the four areas on which it intends to focus in the next stage of its project.

The FCA has issued its near final rules (PS23/13) on its new regime for firms seeking to approve financial promotions. This takes effect on 7 February 2024.

Imposing an obligation on another business to offer the best prices and terms that it offers to all other customers can often seem attractive – but such clauses are not always straightforward. In this briefing, we explore some of the difficulties and discuss the key points to consider for both customers and suppliers when negotiating such clauses.

The Competition and Markets Authority (the "CMA") has powers under the Enterprise Act 2002 to conduct inquiries into the workings of a market. The framework is a two-stage one: a preliminary market study (lasting for 12 months), followed by an in-depth market investigation in cases where the CMA considers there to be reasonable grounds to suspect that a feature (or combination of features) of a market in the UK prevents, restricts or distorts competition.

Travers Smith LLP is delighted to announce that Little Village, a London-based charity that supports families with babies and children under five living in poverty, will be the firm's major charity partner for 2023 – 2025.

Travers Smith LLP has advised AshbyCapital (Ashby) on the refinancing of its Morfa and Westside retail parks with a three-year c.£50 million loan provided by existing lender Deutsche Hypo.

Travers Smith LLP has advised the Trustees of BAE Systems Pensions Schemes on the outsourcing of the investment management of approximately £23bn of pension scheme assets to Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM). The appointment of GSAM as its Outsourced Chief Investment Officer (OCIO) is the largest OCIO appointment in the UK to date. 

This article was first published in the Oct-Dec 2023 edition of Corporate Disputes Magazine

Commercial contracts often require goods or services to be provided over several years – so is it better to have a single global limitation of liability for all claims over the life of the contract? Or should you opt for multiple caps, where the limit effectively "resets" for each year of the contract or for each separate claim?

In our new Talking. Secondaries. series, we will seek to demystify the secondaries and synthetic secondaries markets and provide insights into the variety of tools available to GPs when looking to provide liquidity to their limited partners and their portfolios.

A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry. 

Travers Smith has recently assisted leading Spanish law firm Garrigues on English law advice to ProA Capital, one of the main independent Spanish private equity firms, on its sale of Amara NZero (a leading energy transition B2B supplier across renewables, electrification, and energy transition services) to international private equity firm Cinven.