Business restructuring and recovery

Learn more about business restructuring and recovery for companies in Ireland with the help of Evelyn Partners in Ireland. Discover which services we offer for helping to protect the future of your business and the various Irish formal restructuring and insolvency processes.

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Longevity in business does not always come with the promise of success. Businesses and their owners can experience financial difficulty at any stage.

Changing circumstances, industry trends and market turbulence can all affect the long-term financial security of a once profitable Irish business. However, the positive news is that a range of restructuring options are available when businesses fall on difficult times.

Evelyn Partners Ireland offers specialist support to businesses considering corporate restructuring or facing insolvency.

From informal restructuring options, through to formal winding up, our team of experts is on hand to assist you through all stages of the restructuring and recovery process.

Read on for more information on how we can help businesses in Ireland that are considering restructuring to address underperformance, financial distress or crisis.

The restructuring process in Ireland

There are several options for insolvency and corporate restructuring for Irish businesses. When a company encounters financial problems, restructuring offers a chance to map out a new course of action to ensure the future viability of the firm. Alternatively, if winding-up is the only option after having explored all other options, this must be done in an orderly way maximising returns for creditors and minimising stakeholder exposure.

Our business restructuring services

Here is how we can help when your business is assessing restructuring options whether in relation to underperformance, if encountering serious financial difficulties or if you require assistance with cessation and dissolution.

  • Members voluntary liquidation

    Simplify group structures and finalise shareholder returns by voluntarily winding up companies and special purpose vehicles that have come to the end of their useful life.

  • Corporate insolvency and liquidation services

    Evelyn Partners experienced restructuring & recovery team are ready to assist whether formally acting as company or creditor nominated liquidator, advising impacted creditors or guiding directors through each stage of the process.

  • Receiverships

    Whether in relation to fixed assets, properties or more complex trading entities we will assess and implement efficient and flexible receivership strategies with the aim of maximising secured lenders returns.

  • Examinerships

    The aim of Examinership is to ensure that the Company emerges from the process on a solvent sustainable basis to continue trading with its balance sheet restructured. Whether you are in Cork or Dublin we can assist by formally acting as Examiner or Independent Accountant, advising impaired creditors or guiding prospective investors through each stage of the process.

  • Small Company Administration Rescue Process

    SCARP is a statutory administrative rescue process specifically designed for small companies. Representing a true ‘Examinership Lite’ the process is designed to limit Court involvement, and it operates over a shorter timeframe than Examinership, thereby aiming to reduce costs. Its purpose is to facilitate the survival of insolvent but viable small companies as going concerns. Our experts assisted with practical aspects in relation to the introduction of this process and consequently we are well placed to assist if SCARP is appropriate for your company.

  • Debt advisory

    Seeking pre-emptive specialist advice can identify sustainable and practical solutions to help you regain control of your affairs and put you back on a firm financial footing.

Litigation support for businesses in Ireland

Our support covers a wide range of services and types of litigation from family disputes to shareholder disagreements.

We can help with:

  • Commercial litigation and disputes with other parties
  • Company and partnership valuations
  • Resolution of shareholder disputes
  • Insurance claims for loss of profits, consequential losses and dependency losses
  • Professional negligence claims
  • Asset-tracing and identification of undisclosed assets
  • Personal injury and loss of earnings
  • Family law disputes, such as marital separation and divorce
  • Alternative dispute resolution
  • Financial investigations and fraud

Forensic services in Ireland

Experience, attention to detail and discretion is needed when tracing fraudulent transactions or investigating financial misconduct. So is a partner you can trust.

We can assist with:

  • Corporate fraud investigations
  • Asset-tracing
  • Insolvency investigations.
  • Regulatory and disciplinary investigations in the workplace
  • Computer forensic investigations
  • Commercial disputes and valuations

Business restructuring in Ireland - FAQs

What is a Members’ Voluntary Liquidation (MVL)?

It is the process of winding-up solvent companies that have come to the end of their useful life. As the company is solvent the appointment is controlled by the shareholders (i.e. Members) as opposed to the Creditors who control appointment in an insolvent Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation. Before finalising the winding-up, the liquidator will complete all statutory requirements, discharge outstanding liabilities and distribute any remaining assets (cash, property, intercompany loans etc) to the shareholders.

What are the advantages of a Members Voluntary Liquidation?

Whether as a standalone MVL, or as part of a wider group simplification project, benefits include:

  • Risk — reduce risk in relation to potential unknown contingent claims. Eliminate the danger of an inactive company being involuntarily struck off which can result in the loss of a company’s limited liability protection. Reduce group and financial complexity thereby minimising the risk of financial accounting errors, omissions, misstatement, fraud or loss of ‘corporate memory’.
  • Cost — remove unnecessary annual compliance costs and regulatory burden allowing management to focus on the core business
  • Tax efficiency — return surplus capital in a tax efficient manner to shareholders

What is a Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation?

The process involves the insolvent winding up of a company by an independent liquidator on a voluntary basis. The process is ‘voluntary’ in the sense that it is the Directors that conclude that the company should be wound up and they call the necessary meetings (as opposed to a creditor petitioning the Court on an involuntary basis). As there will be a deficit in funds available, the creditors have the final say in relation to which liquidator is appointed hence the ‘creditors’ name. The relevant statutory provisions are set out in Part 11 of the Irish Companies Act 2014.

What is Receivership?

A Receiver is appointed by a secured creditor (usually a bank) when lending to the Company is in default. The Receiver’s role involves realising the security for the benefit of the charge holder.

What is Examinership in Ireland?

Examinership is a formal corporate restructuring process providing protection from creditor enforcement to insolvent but viable companies to facilitate the restructuring of distressed balance sheets through a court approved scheme of arrangement. The aim is to return the company to a firm financial footing thereby avoiding liquidation and emerging from the process to continue trading as a going concern, preserving goodwill, protecting jobs and maximising returns for creditors. The relevant statutory provisions are set out in Part 10 of the Irish Companies Act 2014.

What is SCARP?

The Small Companies Administrative Rescue Process is a corporate rescue process that is available to insolvent but viable SMEs. The process is similar to Examinership but with less Court involvement. Evelyn Partners team has extensive restructuring experience across a range of sectors helping viable companies to continue trading as going concerns thereby preserving goodwill, protecting jobs and maximising returns for creditors.

What is corporate debt restructuring?

Corporate debt restructuring is usually done to avoid a business becoming bankrupt. A business’s debts to various lenders and creditors are reorganised into a more viable and efficient debt structure.

Evelyn Partners (Ireland) Limited Registered in Ireland at Paramount Court, Corrig Road, Sandyford Business Park, Dublin D18 R9C7. No. 452593. Authorised to carry on investment business by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland.