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    25. PCG's covenant, which had been precarious at the outset, had become worthless by 23 February 1990 at the latest. To complete the point, AJB went into compulsory winding up in April 1990 and an administrative receiver was appointed in May. These events would inevitably have led the head lessors to terminate the head leases and recover their equipment, if they had not done so previously, thereby bringing the sublease to an end.

    26. Mr Mitchell submitted that these ex post facto events ought not to be taken into account in valuing PCG's sublease covenant as at 10 November 1989. I do not agree. In valuing the covenant as at that date, the critical uncertainty is whether the sublease would survive for the four years necessary to enable all the four £312,500 payments to fall due, or would survive long enough to enable some of them to fall due, or would come to an end before any had fallen due. Where the events, or some of them, on which the uncertainties depend have actually happened, it seems to me unsatisfactory and unnecessary for the court to wear blinkers and pretend that it does not know what has happened. Problems of a comparable sort may arise for judicial determination in many different areas of the law. The answers may not be uniform but may depend upon the particular context in which the problem arises. For the purposes of section 238(4) however, and the valuation of the consideration for which a company has entered into a transaction, reality should, in my opinion, be given precedence over speculation. I would hold, taking account of the events that took place in the early months of 1990, that the value of PCG's covenant in the sublease of 10 November 1989 was nil. After all, if, following the signing of the sublease, AJB had taken the sublease to a bank or finance house and had tried to raise money on the security of the covenant, I do not believe that the bank or finance house, with knowledge about the circumstances surrounding the sublease, would have attributed any value at all to the sublease covenant.

    27. Where the value of the consideration for which a company enters into a section 238 transaction is as speculative as is the case here, it is, in my judgment, for the party who relies on that consideration to establish its value. PCG and Brewin Dolphin are, in the present case, unable to do so.

    28. For these reasons I, as did Evans-Lombe J and the Court of Appeal for different reasons, would treat the value of the consideration for which AJB entered into the share sale agreement as being confined to the value of the consideration under that agreement. The sublease covenant, in my opinion, adds nothing.

    29. On this issue, Mr Mitchell submitted that AJB's business as at 10 November 1989 was worthless and that the BSL shares were therefore valueless. This submission was based on the fact that AJB appears to have been hopelessly insolvent and by November 1989 was trading at a substantial loss of £13,000 odd per day. The judge's findings on the value of the BSL shares are conveniently summarised at para 4.3 of AJB's case:

"(1) Bekhor's business assets were an attractive package to buyers such as Brewin Dolphin.

(2) It could not be inferred that Brewin Dolphin was the only potential purchaser.

(3) Brewin Dolphin was a reasonably well informed potential purchaser from the class of typical purchasers.

(4) The contemporary view of what a reasonably well-informed potential purchaser was prepared to pay was some evidence in assessing the market value of the BSL shares.

(5) Brewin Dolphin had been prepared to pay about £1,050,000 for the BSL shares."

    30. I respectfully agree with this approach. The value of an asset that is being offered for sale is, prima facie, not less than the amount that a reasonably well informed purchaser is prepared, in arms' length negotiations, to pay for it.

    31. On this issue the judge reached his figure of £1,050,000 after hearing and assessing the evidence, including expert evidence. It has not been demonstrated that in doing so he misdirected himself. The Court of Appeal reviewed the judge's conclusion. Morritt LJ at p 2063, described his conclusion as "eminently sensible and evidently right" and upheld it. Your Lordships have, in my opinion, been provided with no reason to come to any different conclusion.

    32. In my opinion, in agreement with the judge and the Court of Appeal, AJB succeeded in establishing that, for the purposes of section 238, it had entered into a transaction, namely the share sale agreement, at an undervalue and that the amount of the undervalue was £725,000, ie. £1,050,000 less £325,000. The order made by the judge and upheld by the Court of Appeal required Brewin Dolphin to pay that sum, with interest, to AJB. Neither before the judge nor before the Court of Appeal was any account taken of the £312,500 loan that had been made by PCG to AJB on 9 November 1989 and that had been intended to be repaid by set-off against the same amount due on 10 November 1990. In my opinion, however, that sum ought to be taken into account. It constituted an advance payment, as a loan, of a part of the consideration that had been given for the BSL shares. The receipt of that sum was an advantage that AJB would not have received but for its entry into the share sale agreement and the sublease agreement.

    33. PCG has proved for that sum in the liquidation of AJB, but what, if any, dividend will be received is not known. I imagine it will be negligible.

    34. Under section 238(3), the court has a broad discretion to make "such order as it thinks fit for restoring the position to what it would have been if the company had not entered into that transaction". In my opinion, an order under the subsection that did not take account of AJB's receipt of the £312,500 would be unfair to Brewin Dolphin and PCG. I would, therefore, vary the order against Brewin Dolphin by allowing credit to be taken for the £312,500 and interest thereon. The interest should run from the same date and at the same rate as the interest on the sum payable by Brewin Dolphin. PCG will, of course, have to withdraw its proof for the £312,500 in the liquidation. With that variation to the order made by Evans-Lombe J, however, I would uphold the order and dismiss the appeal.