Corporate Rescue

The Enterprise Act 2002 sought to increase the incidence of corporate rescue in the UK and to improve outcomes for creditors of insolvent corporations. This book seeks to examine, in the first instance, the idea of corporate rescue and whether, as an ideology, its promotion is necessarily the best policy. The book then goes on to examine the various procedures into which insolvent companies may enter, with particular emphasis on those that are, in the orthodox view, non-terminal in the sense that they have the potential to deliver a rescue outcome. The legal structure of these procedures is examined in order to gauge their likely effectiveness in achieving rescue. As well as focusing on legal rules, the book draws on an empirical study of over 3500 companies entering administration or administrative receivership between September 2001 and September 2006, and also draws on series of interviews with practitioners, financiers and other stakeholders so as to offer a more informed view of insolvency practice and how it may assist, or otherwise, in the achievement of the objectives of the Enterprise Act. The book concludes by examining current proposals for future reform of the law and attempts to evaluate their possible impact on this complex but fascinating area of law and practice.