By Andrew Hack, Solicitor, and Stephen Mullette, Principal, of Matthews Folbigg Lawyers, in our Insolvency, Restructuring and Debt Recovery Group.
In our last two blogs we discussed the liability on directors and third party facilitators for failing to prevent creditor-defeating dispositions. We now discuss the defences that may be available to directors and third party facilitators who would otherwise be liable.
Extension of market value
As mentioned in our previous blogs, the definition of ‘market value’ is extended to include the concept of the ‘best price reasonably obtainable’. The objective is to take into account circumstances where a company has an urgent need of cash-flow and may not be in a position to sell its assets at the market price, such as that deemed by a qualified valuer. If a company considers it is forced to sell off an asset which may be at a price less than real market value, due to time constraints in needing to realise cash, companies and advisers should consider making careful records evidencing the steps taken to attempt to realise it for as much of its market value as possible. This should include the circumstances the company was in requiring it to sell the asset potentially at under value. [...]
