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Legal Analysis: Solvent schemes survive

17 March 2010

A ruling in Scotland has put schemes of arrangement under scrutiny.

Read more: Scottish Lion Insurance Company SL solvenct schemes Companies Act

Over recent months, there has been a battle taking place in the Scottish Courts regarding the extent to which a scheme of arrangement pursuant to Part 26 of the Companies Act 2006 can be used to bring an end to a company’s liabilities where the company is solvent. On appeal, the Inner House of the Court of Session in Scotland finally released its decision on the issue on January 29 2010.

Background

Scottish Lion Insurance Company (SL) wrote a mixture of insurance and reinsurance business in the London market with a significant part of this business being ‘occurrence-based’.

SL stopped writing new business in December 1994 and went into run-off.

Although SL was solvent, SL wished to enter into a scheme with its creditors in order to bring finality and certainty to SL’s liabilities. Section 899 of the Companies Act 2006 makes it expressly clear that a majority in...


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If last year was the year of the cat, then this year could be the year of the debt crisis.

Mike Van Slooten, head of international market analysis at Aon Benfield