Corporate Insolvency

Home » Corporate Insolvency

CORPORATE INSOLVENCY SPECIALISTS

We offer corporate insolvency advice to help you make informed decisions for your company.

  • Expert and confidential consultation
  • Ensure compliance with company legislation
  • Determine if your business can be restructured
  • Explore the possibility of Examinership
  • Members Voluntary Liquidation
  • Creditors Voluntary Liquidation

REQUEST A CALLBACK

Subscribe to our Newsletter

RUSSELL & CO. CORPORATE INSOLVENCY

Starting your own small to medium sized business can be a dream come true. It’s a great way to take your life, your career and your livelihood into your own hands and seek your fortune on your own terms using your own unique combination of skills and experience. However, while running your own business is extremely rewarding, there is no safety net. Without the proper financial management, a healthy cash flow and meticulous accounting and bookkeeping your income and expenditure can become difficult to manage. Over time you may notice that your profit margins are waning or that losses are becoming more and more consistent. You may find it harder to get credit from your bank or other lenders, and on occasion may find yourself paying your own money into your business to avoid defaulting on your debts. 

These are all signs that your business is experiencing or facing potential corporate insolvency. This means that you are unable to pay the debts outstanding to your creditors and suppliers and as such your business model is becoming increasingly untenable. When this happens you need expert professional advice, before your creditors are obliged to intervene. 

You need a partner who understands the anxieties and challenges of the corporate insolvency process and can help you to take control of your business affairs, even if it means going into liquidation. You need a firm who will help you to choose the right insolvency services for you. You need someone who will protect your interests while ensuring that your actions are fully compliant with the ever-shifting landscape of Irish insolvency law. 

In short… You need Russell & Co.

INSOLVENCY SERVICE SPECIALIST

 


 

We have developed a strong reputation in the field of insolvency over the years. We pride ourselves on offering a suite of corporate insolvency services that allow business clients to make the best decisions for their companies while ensuring compliance with Irish legislation. We pride ourselves on our ability to combine empathy and understanding with the utmost professionalism and up-to-date legal knowledge.

We are highly skilled and experienced in all aspects of insolvency and have been appointed as the official Irish liquidator of numerous companies in recent years. John Russell is eminently qualified to handle all of your corporate insolvency needs and holds an Insolvency Practicing Certificate from Chartered Accountants Ireland. This makes our firm ideally placed to assist in all aspects of corporate insolvency and restructuring. We understand how daunting prospects like insolvency and liquidation can seem to company directors and small business owners.

We can guide you through each step of this complex process. We can ensure that when administering our corporate insolvency services, you are always in the loop and in control. Plainly speaking, there is no safer pair of hands for your business when facing insolvency.

Here we’ll share some of our knowledge and expertise on the subject to help demystify the liquidation process and allow you to make the right decisions for your ailing company.

How Russell & Co. can help your business in the event of insolvency

 


 

When you feel like your business’ finances are spiralling out of control, our suite of insolvency services can help to put you back in the driving seat. It’s easy to see voluntary liquidation as a surrender of control over your business, when in reality it is an assertion of control. We offer services that allow our clients to right the ship, arrange amicable agreements with creditors and ensure compliance with Irish legislation. Legislation may not be an eventuality that business owners relish, but we can help them to emerge from it in the best possible shape. Here are some of the ways in which we can help your business;

  • We firstly review your current business to form an opinion on its future liability. On occasion, a business can be saved, and restructured to continue saving.
  • We offer comprehensive accounting services to help you to paint a clear picture of your business’ financial situation. Insolvency is much easier to manage if you can afford to be proactive, and we can furnish you with the information you need to make an informed decision.
  • We advise on the statutory obligations under Irish corporate recovery and insolvency law. This ensures that if your business goes into liquidation or receivership the process is completely compliant. This is extremely important, given the host of legislative changes and new regulations put into place over the past 10 years.
  • We can prepare all necessary statutory documents on your behalf.
  • In the event of a Creditors Voluntary Liquidation we can help you to draft your Statement of Affairs in accordance with the 2014 Companies Act.
  • We can organise and schedule all the necessary meetings and help with providing due notification, including dealing with your creditors and employees.

Now that we’ve explained what we can do for you, let’s take a look at some of the possible outcomes when your business becomes insolvent, as well as how we can assist…

What is Receivership?

 


 

Receivership is a formal process wherein a bank or other financial institution or entity appoints a receiver to take possession of a company’s assets. The receiver’s duty is then to realises their value to the benefit of the charge holder. It is also a receiver’s duty to notify creditors that the company is in receivership and oversee the distribution of funds in the event of eventual liquidation. However, this does not mean that liquidation is an inevitable consequence of receivership. 

In some cases, the receiver may decide that corporate restructuring is a more viable alternative to liquidation. They may even continue the company’s business operations with a view to increasing the value of its assets, or potentially selling the business as a going concern. 

The latter is a particularly appealing solution if it means that all of the employees, and their combined redundancy entitlements, were transferred to a new buyer. The lack of need for redundancy claims in a receivership may increase the prospects of recovery of lending. 

Our corporate insolvency services can help you to navigate your business through its receivership. As well as acting as receivers, we are able to work with you to ensure the best outcome for your business in the event of receivership, whether that’s liquidation, restructuring or continuation of trading.

Members Voluntary Liquidation (Solvent Company)

 


 

Even if your business is not insolvent, it may still be prudent to undergo liquidation. Members Voluntary Liquidation (MVL) takes place when a solvent company is “wound up” at the request of its members. Solvent meaning all of the company’s debts and creditors will be paid.

There are a number of reasons why members may want to undergo voluntary liquidation. The director may retire or move on to another business venture, the company may have achieved its predetermined goals or no longer serve its intended purpose, directors may wish to re-invest the capital they’ve sunk into the company into other ventures, or the shareholders may want to unlock company assets in a way that is optimally tax efficient (since funds will be subject to capital gains tax rather than income tax and thus enjoy a better rate). Alternatively, MVL can be used to dissolve long-dormant companies which no longer serve their intended purpose. 

The process commences when the members pass a resolution to wind-up the company and to appoint a liquidator. It is the liquidator’s responsibility to ensure that assets are sold at their highest value in the most efficient way possible in order to maximise shareholders’ dividends. 

A Declaration of Solvency must be approved at the meeting of directors. This summarises the company’ assets and liabilities (confirmed by an outside accountant’s report) and assures creditors that all debts will be repaid within a 12 month period. 

We can assist in all aspects of an MVL from acting as a liquidator to providing an accountant’s report of your company’s assets and liabilities.

Creditors Voluntary Liquidation (Insolvent Company)

 


 

While an MVL is not appropriate for an insolvent company, that does not mean that you cannot voluntarily liquidate your company if it is found to be insolvent. In this instance, a Creditors Voluntary Liquidation (CVL) may be the most effective solution and one which our insolvency services can help you to navigate safely.

This is usually initiated by the company’s board of directors, and must follow a very specific procedure. A meeting must be held with the board of directors to unanimously agree that the company should be put into liquidation and notice must be issued to creditors, shareholders and employees. Under The 2014 Companies Act all creditors must be given 10 days’ notice of the meeting. This meeting must also be advertised in at least two daily newspapers which circulate either where your registered office or where the main premises is located. The company director is also required to present a Statement of Affairs. This is a document which comprehensively describes the book value and realisable value of the company’s assets. 

The company must then cease trading in a timely manner and appoint a liquidator to distribute its assets at the highest possible realisable value. 

Your creditors are legally entitled to question the Statement of Affairs so its vital that it is accurate in its reporting. Not only can we compile this comprehensive document on your behalf, we can assist in all other aspects of the liquidation process including dealing with banks, creditors, employees and Revenue Commissioners and dispersing payments to creditors as soon as the necessary funds become available.

Official Liquidation

 


 

An Official or Compulsory Court Liquidation may take place if a company fails to honour its debts to a creditor and does not voluntarily go into liquidation. In this instance, the creditor may petition the court for a Compulsory Liquidation. This is a formal winding up of a company and involves the intervention of a liquidator who is nominated by the court. 

In some cases, however, the company itself may petition the court to liquidate. This generally occurs in order for the company to preserve as many of its assets as possible. In some cases, the company may be able to use this as a means to save the business and its employees’ jobs. 

A Compulsory Liquidation, however, has a number of caveats which make it best avoided by companies. The court may not allow you to nominate your own liquidator and may insist on appointing one which is more expensive than one who you would have chosen yourself. Moreover, your business could potentially be struck off by the Companies Office and you could even lose your limited liability protection.

We can help by liaising with creditors to advise them on other, more appropriate forms of action than petitioning for a Court Liquidation and guide you through the process to make it as easy as possible. This may also be more beneficial to creditors and employees in the long-run.

What does it mean when a company goes into Examinership?

 


 

Examinership is an option that is only available to Irish companies and was introduced by the Companies (Amendment) Act 1990. It allows companies in financial trouble temporary protection for 70 days from their creditors which can be extended by application to the High Court to 100 days. Examinership allows companies the possibility of remaining operational and protecting their employees’ jobs. It can be invaluable in preventing company assets from being seized by creditors. This temporary reprieve can allow businesses time to restructure their debts and reach a compromise with their creditors.

The introduction of the Companies Acts 2014 allowed examinership cases to be heard by the Circuit Court in addition to the High Court. This means that examinership is significantly more flexible and affordable and more readily available to SMEs. 

Our corporate insolvency services team can advise on whether examinership is a viable option for your company and work with you to ensure a satisfactory result for you and your creditors.

Insolvency advice

 


 

If there’s one single piece of corporate insolvency advice we’d like to give you for free it’s this… Act quickly, and act decisively. Seek the advice you need to initiate proceedings as soon as possible. As emotionally tethered as you may be to the business you have built, neither you nor your shareholders gain anything from dragging your feet. Seeking the appropriate insolvency services and going into liquidation voluntarily allows you to take control of the situation and insulates you from the risk of undertaking Official Liquidation at the hands of the courts. 

We have the knowledge and experience to help you with all aspects of insolvency. Not only can we help you to weather the storm through supporting you in an action that best suits your business, we can also provide accounting and business coaching services to ensure that your company (or future company) keeps insolvency at bay permanently. 

WOULD YOU LIKE SOME EXPERT HELP? 

 

Russell & Co.’s can apply the correct insolvency services to protect your business. We can also offer Tax Advisory & Forensic Accounting services in this difficult time. We are here to help. 

Call +353 21 4963679 | Email info@russellandco.ie | Request Call Back

Join our Mailing List: Specialist Insights & Business Tips