Colman Coyle: Spanish/International Department Update

In the last few months, Colman Coyle’s International Department has been dealing with clients from different jurisdictions on a variety of issues, amongst them property, insolvency and litigation.  We thought it would be a good time to provide you with a taste of what these have been.

Property/Real Estate

We were instructed by a high profile Spanish institution.

They were the leaseholders of a very substantial listed property in a prime location.  The landlord wanted to buy the leasehold back from our client for several million pounds.  The negotiations got to the stage of a roadblock situation at that stage.

Colman Coyle, through its contacts, managed to raise the sufficient interest of five different highly sophisticated potential purchasers.  Eventually, the property lease was sold to one of those for almost 45% more money than the freeholder’s final offer.

Colman Coyle is acting for clients with a substantial chain of shops in different jurisdictions, particularly in Spain where they have 150+ outlets.

We have already been instructed on five different leases by this company in the last couple of months.

They are steaming away and we are very pleased to confirm that our advice has been on so many different issues such as a licence for alternations so the property can be converted into a state that is convenient for our clients, as well as rent deposit, and the lease negotiations itself.

It is crucial to have a commercial approach in mind when a substantial business operation would be run by a client as opposed to a one-off shop.

Insolvency

We were instructed by a company that unfortunately was not in the best of shape.

Through our very close work with the company’s accountant, we managed to find a solution whereby the company, rather than being liquidated as insolvent would pursue the avenue whereby it can be dissolved as a solvent company.  That was a fantastic result as strategically speaking for this group of companies would have been very detrimental facing the opposite scenario.

International Litigation

Service

We have been assisting a company which was sued in the Moroccan court by a company in a third country.

That service was done via the vehicle of the Hague Convention November 1965 on the Service Abroad of Judicial Documents in Civil and Commercial Matters.

The service was carried successfully, therefore the purpose of the service was fulfilled and the claim have to be answered in Morocco by that English company.

Jurisdiction and Applicable Law

On a different note, we have been advising a substantial company in connection with a commercial litigation case with international elements.  We have advised in relation to forum jurisdiction, the Brussels Convention (Article 16) as to which was the relevant court that should hear this particular matter.

Following that, the matter turned into a more complex issue in relation to applicable law, where different conventions, such as Rome I, should apply in the absence of a choice of law, as Rome II in matters of non-contractual obligations.

Eventually, the client was advised that it would be advisable due to different factors to pursue this matter in a different jurisdiction rather than in the UK.