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Corporate debt and COVID-19

Gregory Price and Rose Swaffield of Macfarlanes LLP highlight the key UK tax considerations of current developments in relation to corporate debt in a COVID-19 world.

Corporate debtIt is difficult to overstate the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the UK economy. Within three months, lockdown measures introduced in March to curb the spread of the virus caused the domestic economy to shrink by just over 20%. By the summer of 2020, the UK had plunged into the deepest recession on record.

As consumer spending all but halted and revenues tumbled, groups scrambled to raise cash to secure their balance sheets and shore-up their working capital – most at some point turning to their existing lenders to utilise unused headroom or to refinance existing facilities.