Andrew Ramsden

I am a Legal Director in the Restructuring & Insolvency team in London.

I act for Insolvency practitioners in relation to formal insolvency procedures, including administrations, liquidations, receiverships and bankruptcies. My expertise covers both non-contentious and contentious matters.

On the non-contentious side, I typically advise in relation to office holder appointments and business and asset sales. On the contentious side, I advise office holders in relation to pursuing the full raft of Insolvency Act claims, including in relation to: preferences, transactions at an undervalue, wrongful trading, transactions designed to defraud creditors, avoidance of certain floating charges, misfeasance and breach of duty claims. I do also act for companies and directors in financial difficulty, advising them as to the the risks and potential liabilities involved in trading when a company is in a precarious financial position.

• I recently acted for a large international airline in relation to an arbitration revolving around airport slots, formerly released to a challenger airline that subsequently entered into administration.
• Prior to that, I acted for a large international airline (a household name), in their purchase of the entire portfolio of slots held by another airline that had entered into administration.
• I also recently acted for the liquidators of an online vendor, in relation to securing their appointment in circumstances where there was an extant winding up petition outstanding against the company. Thereafter, I was involved in negotiating and drafting the business and asset sale agreement, pursuant to which the business and assets of the company were sold, preserving the business and the jobs of those employed by it.
• I acted for the liquidator of an insurance company that underwrote policies across Europe, in relation to a number of issues and disputes arising in the course of the liquidation.
• Advising the office holders appointed over several unconnected companies, in relation to claims against the respective companies' former directors, arising out of the use of disguised remuneration schemes. This involved working closely with the appointed office holders and HMRC, in order to reach agreeable settlements with the respondents. The cases resulted in the return of millions of pounds to HMRC.