Application to Companies Court
- On 3 October 2008, the Financial Services Authority issued a First Supervisory Notice to Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander Limited (in administration) (KSF) requiring KSF to: (a) open a segregated trust account with the Bank of England (the Account); (b) to place monies equivalent to the aggregate value of deposits accepted by KSF from its customers during the course of 2 and 3 October 2008 into the Account; and (c) afterwards to credit the Account with a cash amount at least as great as the value of any subsequent deposits accepted. The FSA required that notice to be kept confidential for the purpose of assisting in the smooth administration of KSF. For this reason, the Joint Administrators were not able to provide information about the Account to creditors at an early stage.
- The Joint Administrators informed the creditors’ committee of the Account as soon as they were able to do so after the confidentiality restrictions were lifted and they continue to keep the creditors’ committee informed of any developments.
- The Joint Administrators have applied to the Companies Court for directions in relation to how monies in the Account should be distributed, and consider it appropriate to provide creditors of KSF with information about the Account and the court application.
- The Account held £147,436,226.05 at the time of the administration.
- KSF was responsible for administering the Account and the Joint Administrators have now taken over this role in their capacity as agent of KSF.
- The legal issues raised are complex and there are numerous interested parties. The Joint Administrators have applied to the Companies Court for directions on how to deal with the funds contained in the Account. The matter was heard by the Companies Court from 19-21 May 2009 and judgment has been given. A copy of the judgment is available here.
- Permission has been given to the interested parties to lodge an appeal. Any Notices of Appeal must be lodged by 5 August 2009. To the extent that Notices of Appeal are lodged (which seems likely), further court hearings will be required to determine those appeals and the Joint Administrators will proceed in accordance with directions of the Court of Appeal in relation to the monies in the Account. This application is being progressed by the Joint Administrators as promptly as possible.
- The Joint Administrators have prepared a short question and answer sheet to which customers are referred for any further queries.