Lessons from Nortel: what do the recent allocation decisions mean?

Around 33,000 UK-based pensioners of the Nortel group look set to receive a greater share of the group’s $7bn worldwide assets, following a joint allocation hearing in the US and Canadian courts.

This should mitigate earlier difficulties encountered in trying to use the Pensions Regulator’s anti-avoidance powers to recover monies from non-UK companies.  The decision may also have wider implications for unsecured lenders to a company which is part of a multi-jurisdictional group headquartered in the US or Canada.