Allen & Overy Publications

Reviews the scheme of arrangement procedure (under the Companies Act 2006) and the voluntary arrangement procedure (under the Insolvency Act 1986), both of which may be used to restructure a company when it is in financial difficulties. Contains a brief comparison of the two procedures and when it may be appropriate to use one rather than the other.
 

This eAlert is further to the one issued on 25 November 2011. It provides new and updated information regarding bar dates which have been imposed for the submission of claims in relation to key Lehman Brothers entities and several of the Icelandic banks and their subsidiaries. The new and updated information is shown in red below. This summary is not exhaustive and has been prepared for information purposes only.
 

On 2 May 2012, the High Court granted the administrators of Lehman Brothers International (Europe) (LBIE) permission to: (i) bring forward the bar date for lodging unsecured claims to 31 July 2012; (b) pay a first interim dividend to unsecured creditors no later than 31 December 2012; and (c) offer creditors the opportunity to receive a single payment as full and final settlement of their claims (the Small Claims Settlement Offer).
 

On 12 April 2012, the administrators of Lehman Brothers International (Europe) (LBIE) sent out their seventh progress report to (the Report) for the period of 15 September 2011 to 14 March 2012 to all known creditors and counterparties. This bulletin summarises some of the key issues raised in the Report. Interested parties are encouraged to read the whole Report for more details on these issues. 

Allen & Overy's U.S. restructuring group was recognized in the 2012 IFLR Americas Awards, taking home two of the coveted prizes.

Today, the Court of Appeal handed down its judgment in four appeals, all of which concerned the consequences of an Event of Default under the ISDA Master Agreement, and in particular the effect of Section 2(a)(iii). The judgment deals with important aspects of the operation of the ISDA Master Agreement which had been subject to different interpretations in a number of first instance decisions.

Over the next few years, German banks will have to raise capital in the financial markets in order to  meet tightened regulatory capital requirements. Those investors who are thinking about purchasing bonds or stocks issued by German banks should keep all scenarios in mind, even scenarios in which the issuer defaults or faces insolvency. This briefing paper explains the special regime implemented in Germany to deal with – and if possible, prevent – the insolvency of a German bank.

Considers the duties of directors of Thai companies in financial difficulties. There are three main areas of concern for directors including: fraudulent trading; the duty to consider the interest of the company's creditors where the company may be or is insolvent; and other offences that have an element of fraud or bad faith.

The purpose of this note is to highlight some of the less obvious issues for sellers and buyers of non-performing loan (“NPL”) portfolios. While this note focuses on U.S. NPL transactions, a number of these issues will be common to performing loan portfolios as well as to European and Asian NPL and performing loan sales. 

As of 1 January 2012, a major amendment to Slovak Act No. 7/2005 on bankruptcy and restructuring (the Bankruptcy Act) has introduced a statutory subordination of claims of related creditors. Security interests securing such claims are not enforceable in bankruptcy. There are concerns that the new rule may pose additional risks to the enforceability of ISDA Credit Support Documents between related parties.

The UK Supreme Court has today handed down judgment in the Lehman Brothers International (Europe) client money litigation. The Supreme Court's interpretation of the FSA's CASS rules will have a significant impact on investment firms' operations, as well as distributions from the LBIE estate.  

In this month's banking and finance update we provide a short summary of the LMA changes to its investment grade credit agreement and finance party default provisions.  We review two interesting judgments dealing with the interests of senior lenders and unsecured creditors in proposed schemes of arrangement.  We investigate the role played by business commonsense in the interpretation of contracts and look at an interesting English case regarding the rule against double proof in insolvencies.
 

A summary of the restructuring and insolvency procedures available in Germany. Considers which of the German procedures constitute main and/or secondary proceedings under the EC Regulation on Insolvency Proceedings.

A summary of the restructuring and insolvency procedures available in the US (Chapter 11 and Chapter 7). Also considers Chapter 15 and cross-border application.

A summary of the restructuring and insolvency procedures available in France. Considers which of the French procedures constitute main and/or secondary proceedings under the EC Regulation on Insolvency Proceedings.