The High Court of London has sanctioned the first restructuring plan for short-term property finance lender Amicus Finance, which will take it out of administration.
The plan consists of three elements; the injection of £3.7m in funds, lump sum payments to Amicus’ expense creditors as well as payments to secured and unsecured creditors from legacy loans.
Creditors will be split in to five classes of senior secured creditors, junior secured creditor, preferential creditor, expense creditor and unsecured creditor.
The plan will use a cross-class cram-down, which means all creditors of any class will be bound by the court sanction.
Amicus Finance entered into administration in 2019 as the property lending arm closed down due to the separation of Amicus Asset Finance from the group.
It was forced to cease property lending as a deal for further investment could not be secured by shareholders, and all staff were put on consultation for redundancy and administrators formally called in December.
A restructuring plan was proposed to prevent the firm entering liquidation and aims to return to the company to solvency and rescue it as a going concern. The administrators argued that it would put creditors in a better position than if the company was liquidated.
Initially Crowdstacker, one of the creditors, voted against the plan, but due to new legislation introduced last year the High Court was able to approve the plan despite the opposition as the majority of other creditors agreed.
It is thought to be the first time a restructuring plan has been proposed to exit a company from administration.
Anna is currently the deputy editor for Mortgage Solutions and editor for Specialist Lending Solutions. She has worked as a journalist since 2019, having secured her Gold Standard NCTJ diploma from News Associates in a fast-track six-month course.
She started her career as a report at specialist publication The Insurance Insider covering a wide range of areas before joining Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions in 2021.
In her role, she helps put together and structure the news agenda for the day and writes up press releases, reports, interviews, analyses and exclusives across both titles. She also commissions blogs for Specialist Lending Solutions and hosts online masterclasses and in-person events across the business.
She has been shortlisted for three journalism awards, which include BIBA Journalist and Media Awards Scoop of Year Award in 2020, Headline Money Mortgage Journalist of the Year Award (B2B) in 2022 and 2023.
Prior to being a journalist, Anna worked in ecommerce across Snow + Rock, Cycle Surgery and Runners Need websites, and before that worked at specialist financial PR firm Rostrum.
In her spare time, Anna enjoys reading, seeing live music, and cooking for friends and family. When she gets a chance, she also enjoys hiking, skiing and indoor rock climbing.