Allen & Overy Publications

The administrators of Lehman Brothers International (Europe) (LBIE) have announced that they will pay a second interim dividend to unsecured creditors on 28 June 2013.

On 12 April 2013, the administrators of Lehman Brothers International (Europe) (LBIE) sent out their ninth progress report (the Report) for the period from 15 September 2012 to 14 March 2013 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.

Fact Sheet for directors of companies in financial difficulty in Romania

Fact Sheet considering directors' duties in Belgium.

Fact Sheet for Directors Duties in the Slovak Republic.

In the continuing fight between MBIA and a bank group that has dwindled to two members, it appears that, due to another court decision, MBIA is ahead on points; however, some believe the insurer is running out of gas. On April 2, 2013, the New York Appellate Division, First Department, affirmed the trial court's decision holding that an underlying loan does not need to be in default to trigger the policyholder's repurchase obligation to MBIA if the insurer can prove that inaccurate information provided by the policyholder materially and adversely affected the insurer's interest.

This bulletin considers the proposed consensual approach for the return by LBIE to its customers of assets that were sub-custodied with Lehman Brothers Inc.

On March 4, 2013, the New York State Supreme Court rendered its long-awaited decision in respect of the actions of the New York Insurance Department in approving the restructuring of MBIA. That restructuring created an alleged "good bank/bad bank" in which MBIA Corp.'s public finance policyholders were transferred into a new, well capitalized insurer while the structured finance policyholders were left behind to suffer MBIA Corp.'s financial difficulties. A group of banks holding those structured finance policies brought two suits.

The EC Insolvency Regulation (the Regulation) has now been in force in the EU (with the exception of Denmark) for over ten years. One major criticism of the Regulation is the lack of priority given to the rescue of economically viable debtors. To address this (and other) concerns, the European Commission and Parliament have published proposals to amend the Regulation. If implemented in their current form, these would result in some fundamental changes to the Regulation. This bulletin discusses some of proposed reforms and their consequences.

The use of English law schemes of arrangement to facilitate a restructuring of the debt facilities of Global Investment House K.S.C.(c) (a company incorporated in Kuwait), the CMBS notes issued by GRAND (an Irish company) and to provide for an extension of maturities on the debt facilities of Cortefiel (a Spanish company) shows how versatile an English scheme of arrangement is and how wide its potential application can be. A&O acted on all three restructurings.