UK: England and Wales: winding-up in the public interest

A transcript for Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills v Top Choice Wholesale Ltd. [2012] EWHC 1262 (Ch) was published on BAILII yesterday. The decision was handed down in February this year by HHJ Hodge QC (sitting as a judge of the High Court) and concerned the operation of section 124A of the Insolvency Act 1986. Section 124A provides the Secretary of State with the power to petition for the winding-up of a company on public interest grounds. Subsection (2) provides, however, that this power is not available where a company is already being wound-up. HHJ Hodge QC held that this subsection did not prevent the Secretary of State from presenting a petition where a petition had already been presented by a creditor of the company, and noted that the existence of the creditor's position provided no guarantee that the company would in fact be wound-up.