Reproduced with permission of the publisher from National Insolvency Review, Vol. 27, No. 5, October 2010.

Reproduced with permission of the publisher from National Insolvency Review, Vol. 27, No. 5, October 2010.

Restrictions on a borrower’s ability to prepay secured debt obligations are a common feature of modern bond indentures and credit agreements. Lenders frequently employ “no-call” provisions to prevent borrowers from refinancing or retiring outstanding debt prior to maturity. Loan documents also may permit prepayment at the borrower’s option, but conditioned on the payment of a “makewhole premium” (often referred to as a “prepayment penalty”).

Reproduced with permission of the publisher from Commercial Insolvency Reporter, Vol. 23, No. 1, October 2010.

THE INTERNATIONAL SCENE: (citation: George Klidonas; "Automatic Stay in Chapter 15: Global Stay Applicable Only in Chapter 11 Cases" XXIX ABI Journal 9; 48-49, 86; November 2010) - George Klidonas

I have been involved in hundreds of insolvency cases over the course of a career that has spanned more than 25 years. The apparent causes of the company’s difficulties could usually be distilled down to one or more problems drawn from a predictable list of factors. These included over expansion (“if we build it, they will come”), high interest rates, shifts in commodity prices, loss of a major contract or customer, fraud and others that were less obvious.

Reproduced with permission of the publisher from National Insolvency Review, Vol. 27, No. 5, October 2010.

Introduction The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit's recent opinion in In re Visteon Corp(1) is a significant victory for retirees whose rights could be impaired in a Chapter 11 case, and further signals the court's inclination towards strict statutory construction.

Pursuant to an order issued on June 9 2010 in Fifth Third Bank v MPI Packaging Inc, the Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal from a disgruntled bidder and confirmed the invalidity of referential bids in Ontario. Grant Thornton Ltd was appointed as receiver over the assets, property and undertakings of MPI Packaging Inc, an Ontario producer of bottle containers. Before the appointment of the receiver, MPI commenced an action against Zuckerman-Honickman Incorporated (ZH) (the 'litigation') and a few days later ZH commenced an action against MPI and its president, Ronald O'Brien.

In a much-awaited decision, New York’s highest court on October 21, 2010 gave a broad scope to the in pari delicto doctrine that is often used as a defense when a company’s outside professionals are sued on behalf of the company for their roles in connection with management-led wrongdoing at the company. In a 4-3 ruling in two consolidated cases, Kirschner v. KPMG LLP and Teachers’ Retirement System of Louisiana v. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (Nos. 151 & 152, Oct. 21, 2010), the New York Court of Appeals— addressing questions certified to it by the U.S.