PART 10Insolvency

Position of creditors

I1I2124Ability for creditors to opt not to receive certain notices: company insolvency

1

The Insolvency Act 1986 is amended as follows.

2

For the italic heading before section 246B substitute— “ Giving of notices etc by office-holders ”.

3

After section 246B insert—

246CCreditors' ability to opt out of receiving certain notices

1

Any provision of the rules which requires an office-holder of a company to give a notice to creditors of the company does not apply, in circumstances prescribed by the rules, in relation to opted-out creditors.

2

Subsection (1)—

a

does not apply in relation to a notice of a distribution or proposed distribution to creditors;

b

is subject to any order of the court requiring a notice to be given to all creditors (or all creditors of a particular category).

3

Except as provided by the rules, a creditor may participate and vote in a qualifying decision procedure or a deemed consent procedure even though, by virtue of being an opted-out creditor, the creditor does not receive notice of it.

4

In this section—

  • “give” includes deliver, furnish or send;

  • “notice” includes any document or information in any other form;

  • “office-holder”, in relation to a company, means—

    1. a

      a liquidator, provisional liquidator, administrator or administrative receiver of the company,

    2. b

      a receiver appointed under section 51 in relation to any property of the company, or

    3. c

      the supervisor of a voluntary arrangement which has taken effect under Part 1 in relation to the company.

4

After section 248 insert—

248A“Opted-out creditor”

1

For the purposes of this Group of Parts “opted-out creditor”, in relation to an office-holder of a company, means a person who—

a

is a creditor of the company, and

b

in accordance with the rules has elected (or is deemed to have elected) to be (and not to cease to be) an opted-out creditor in relation to the office-holder.

2

In this section, “office-holder”, in relation to a company, means—

a

a liquidator, provisional liquidator, administrator or administrative receiver of the company,

b

a receiver appointed under section 51 in relation to any property of the company, or

c

the supervisor of a voluntary arrangement which has taken effect under Part 1 in relation to the company.

5

In Schedule 8 (provisions which may be included in company insolvency rules), after paragraph 5 insert—

5A

Provision for enabling a creditor of a company to elect to be, or to cease to be, an opted-out creditor in relation to an office-holder of the company (within the meaning of section 248A), including, in particular, provision—

a

for requiring an office-holder to provide information to creditors about how they may elect to be, or cease to be, opted-out creditors;

b

for deeming an election to be, or cease to be, an opted-out creditor in relation to a particular office-holder of a company to be such an election also in relation to any other office-holder of the company.