Directors’ duties and liabilities survive insolvency – a new court ruling

A recent High Court ruling on directors’ duties after insolvency has said that they cannot buy assets from their liquidated companies at below market value.
The ruling was made after solicitors for the company’s second liquidator who took over the case, Stephen Hunt, argued that Brian Michie as former owner and director of the construction company, System Building Services Group Ltd, had “unfairly bought a two-bedroom house from the original insolvency practitioner involved for £75,000 less than it was worth, 18 months after his company went out of business”.
The company went into administration in July 2012, and then into a creditors’ voluntary liquidation in July 2013 following which Mr Michie bought the property in Billericay, that was owned by his company, for £120,000 in 2014 from the previous liquidator Gagen Sharma.
The case revolved around whether director’s duties survived the insolvency of a company and specifically those relating to the purchase of assets post insolvency.
Directors have specific obligations where a company becomes insolvent. Under the Insolvency Act 1986 (IA 86), they must act to minimise further potential loss to creditors. Under the Insolvency Act 1986, the directors must recognise their duty to the company’s creditors, including current, future and contingent creditors.
While the case did not involve a pre-pack, where the business and assets of an insolvent company are sold by its Administrator to a new company, in this case the assets were sold by an insolvency practitioners back to the director and it has implications for such a sale since it was argued that the director knew the real value of the assets and knowingly bought them for less than what they were worth known as a ‘sale at undervalue’ which is a breach of the IA86.
Mr Hunt has been quoted as saying that: “This wasn’t a pre-pack case in the normal sense, but it was a predetermined sale of assets back to the director through a company that the insolvency practitioner assisted in forming.
“The moral case for pre-pack sales to directors has often been questioned, but this decision opens up the possibility of a clear legal difference between a third-party sale and one to the existing owners.”
I would strongly advise company directors to familiarise themselves thoroughly with their duties and liabilities.
You can download a copy of my Guide to Directors Duties here.