<p>Filter Knowledge</p>

A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry. 

The UK Government has been consulting on wide-ranging proposals to reform competition and consumer law. In this briefing, we consider the proposed reforms to consumer law and ask whether their impact on consumer-facing businesses will be comparable to that of the GDPR.

On 24 November 2021, the Court of Appeal provided a clear reminder of the limited bounds within which the English Courts will make an order for third party disclosure pursuant to a Norwich Pharmacal application.

The government has tabled amendments to the draft legislation contained in the Finance Bill introducing the new QAHC regime. The regime, which is due to come into force from 1 April 2022, confers wide-ranging tax benefits on QAHCs.

In this article, we consider the recent decision in Griffiths v TUI [2021] EWCA Civ 1442, a holiday sickness claim, in which the Court of Appeal had to consider the correct judicial approach to expert evidence that was uncontroverted and unchallenged.

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.

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.