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Last month, the High Court handed down judgment in Various Airfinance Leasing Companies v Saudi Arabian Airlines Corporation[1] declining an application that would have required the defendant airline to disclose relevant documents held on the mobile phones of two of its senior personnel.
The High Court decision in London Trocadero (2015) LP v Picturehouse Cinemas Ltd [2021] EWHC 2591 (Ch) represents the latest in a growing line of cases arising out of the Covid-19 pandemic in which the courts have refused to be swayed from established legal principles to accommodate difficulties faced by contractual counterparties, and commercial tenants in particular. Here, the court refused to imply a term into two leases excusing the tenants from the payment of rent and service charges, or accept that there had been a failure of basis, in circumstances where it had at various points during the pandemic been either illegal or unviable for the tenants to use the leased premises.
There is an approaching deadline (7 January 2022) for trustees again to self-certify their compliance with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) Order regarding investment consultants' objectives and tenders for fiduciary management services.
In a consequential matters judgment handed down on 19 October 2021, the High Court ruled on the correct interpretation of the liability cap in the share sale agreement ("SSA") and the cost consequences of the Part 36 offer.
The Takeover Panel is consulting on Code changes to facilitate clearer information to shareholders upon which to make investment decisions, and to improve clarity on the workings of the Code, particularly in the area of mandatory offers.
In this article, we consider the recent decision in Building Design Partnership Limited v Standard Life Assurance Limited [2021] EWCA Civ 1793 in which the Court of Appeal considered whether the claimant could rely on extrapolation when pleading its case.
The first "Tax Day" back in March proved to be a fairly low key affair. This time around the government called the event "Tax Administration and Maintenance Day", and it lived up (or down) to its name, with lots of the materials focussing on improving the nuts and bolts of tax administration so as to take advantage of modern technology and reduce opportunities for non-compliance.
A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry.
An analysis of FCA rule changes effective 3 December 2021 to try to attract more issuers, particularly high-growth and technology businesses, to undertake IPOs in the UK.
On Tuesday 30 November 2021, the government published a series of tax-related consultations and policy papers as part of 'tax administration and maintenance day'. Among these were a number of interesting consultations relating to real estate.
Private Equity & Financial Sponsors Partner, James Renahan, took part in Private Equity International's recent European mid-market roundtable discussing the pace of European private equity dealmaking.
The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre recently produced a report calling into question the quality and utility of the now ubiquitous social audit reporting (Social Audit Liability: Hard Law Strategies to Redress Weak Social Assurances) (the "Report").
On 26 November 2021 the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published PS21/17: Implementation of Investment Firms Prudential Regime.
This case concerned an application for committal relating to a failure to observe a freezing injunction. The High Court sentenced the defendant, ("Mr Lewis"), to five months' immediate imprisonment and refused to order a suspended sentence because of Mr Lewis' deliberate offending.
The regulatory technical standards supplementing the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (EU SFDR) have been delayed again by a further six months until 1 January 2023.
The government has enacted new tax regulations for the LTAF, the UK's new authorised open-ended fund vehicle. It is designed to facilitate investment in long-term, illiquid assets and has been generating a lot of interest from our clients.
The European Commission has proposed changes to the AIFMD, UCITS Directive and the ELTIF regime in its long-awaited overhaul of the EU funds regimes.
On 3 October 2021, the UK Competition & Markets Authority ('CMA') published its recommendation to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy as to whether the existing Vertical Agreements Block Exemption Regulation ('VABER'), both in force in the EU and retained from EU law following Brexit, should be renewed or varied in the UK. The retained VABER will expire on 31 May 2022 so, without a renewal or variation, an automatic exemption regime for vertical agreements would cease to apply in the UK.
Discrimination by association occurs where an employee is discriminated against, not because of a protected characteristic they have, but because of a characteristic of someone they associate with, for example a disabled spouse or child. This case shows how far the protection can potentially extend.
Is it reasonable for care home operators to charge new residents an administration fee on admission, separate from the costs of care or accommodation? Do fees of this sort merely compensate care home operators for the internal costs incurred in managing the personalised admission of a new resident, or are they unfair charges which take advantage of the stress and complexities of arranging residential care?