A CVA, a Company Voluntary Arrangement, is a binding agreement between a company and those to whom it owes money (creditors).
It can allow a company in difficulty to carry on trading, by proposing affordable, realistic and manageable repayment terms to creditors and depends on the company’s proposals and what is finally agreed. It may also include provision for some of a company’s debts to be written off and will usually include a plan for restructuring the company.
The directors formally agree that the company should continue to trade and propose a CVA to creditors.
A CVA proposal is prepared by the directors, normally with the help of turnaround advisers, and then sent to the Company’s creditors along with an independent report on it by a licensed insolvency practitioner acting as Nominee and Convenor of a decision procedure through which creditors are invited to consider and vote on the proposal.
Creditors may respond to the proposal, either by accepting it, accepting it with modifications or rejecting it. Their votes are counted; 75% by value of all those voting, and 50% by value of all ‘non-associated’ creditors voting, must accept the proposals and modifications for a CVA to be approved.
The Nominee/Convenor will also convene a physical meeting of shareholders, to take place after the creditors’ decision procedure. The meeting of shareholders will decide whether to accept or reject the CVA by simple majority; however if they reject a CVA proposal already approved by creditors, the CVA is still approved.
A CVL, Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation, on the other hand, is a process by which the directors of an insolvent company can close it down without involving a court procedure and like a CVA, the CVL procedure is defined by the Insolvency Act 1986.
The directors formally agree that the company should cease to trade and propose the CVL to shareholders, and will also propose a liquidator to be appointed. At least 75% of the shareholders must approve the company be placed into liquidation, and over 50% must agree on who should be the liquidator.
The directors will also propose a liquidator to creditors via a decision procedure – either a virtual meeting, where creditors are invited to log on or call into a meeting and vote on who is liquidator, or deemed consent, where creditors are told by the directors who they want the liquidator to be, and will be given a deadline by which they can lodge an objection.
In both cases, the company is insolvent but the difference is the crucial test of its situation and whether with restructuring it can survive to emerge from insolvency in a way that will improve the position for creditors.
In both cases, also, the directors of the company should seek advice from a qualified professional, such as a turnaround professional or insolvency practitioner, to ensure they are abiding by their director duties, the legal obligations that all directors must adhere to and that are designed to ensure that their actions and decisions are in the best interests of the creditors and the company in that order.
Ultimately, the directors have to decide, with advice, realism and honesty, whether their company’s insolvency can be rectified with the right measures to return it to profitability, or whether the situation is irretrievable and the only solution is to cease to trade and liquidate the assets.
In summary, a CVA is a formal procedure for restructuring the balance sheet as one of many tools that can be used to save a company while a CVL is an efficient procedure for closing down a company.
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