Vol 22 (2025) - Issue 4

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Rajnesh Mittal and Jonathan Dunn v Edouard Berthier and 16 other Bondholders [2024] EWHC 3122 (Ch)

Synopsis
The English High Court granted the request of a bondholder creditor ('Mr Berthier') that a company in administration be placed into liquidation rather than dissolved. This preserved the company to allow for the possibility of further investigations and claims relating to alleged misconduct by the former directors (including wrongful trading).
The Court made its decision notwithstanding the opinion of the company's administrators that any claims against the former directors were unlikely to
succeed and, therefore, that making a final distribution and then dissolving the company was in the best interests of creditors. The Court's conclusion that the challenging creditor was acting in his own interests rather than the interests of the company's creditors as a whole was also not a bar to success, on the basis that no other creditors would be materially prejudiced by the company entering liquidation. Also, a number of other bondholders had given witness statements echoing Mr Berthier's position with whom he had a common interest.