For a process enshrined in a few brief sections of the English Companies Acts, the meteoric rise in recent years of the scheme of arrangement to become one of the world’s most renowned debt restructuring tools is quite a story. A scheme allows a statutory majority of creditors (comprising a majority in number and 75% by value of those voting in each class) to vary the rights of the entire class and to “cram down” any dissentients, subject to the oversight of the court.

The Court of Appeal (CA) has ruled unanimously that the calculation of pensions for surviving civil partners may be restricted to the period of the member's service on and after 5 December 2005, the date the Civil Partnership Act became law. The decision will not be referred to the European Court of Justice, as the CA was sufficiently confident of its interpretation of the law to consider the case settled at a national level.

In the Summer 2014 edition of eurofenix (in an article entitled “A New Regime for Bank Crisis Management”), we reported on the EU Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive 2014/59/EU (the “BRRD”), a minimum harmonisation directive which aims to establish a common framework for the recovery and resolution of failing credit institutions and larger investment firms in the European Economic Area (EEA). The BRRD complements the EC Directive on the Reorganisation and Winding-Up of Credit Institutions (2001/24/EC), the “Directive”, implemented in the UK in 2004, which is broadly aimed at determining t

The Privy Council, final court of appeal for a number of countries and territories in the Commonwealth, has brought an end to the saga begun in the case of Cambridge Gas. The case of Singularis, on appeal from Bermuda, has set a limit on the permissible extent of judicial cooperation in the absence of a domestic cooperation provision or an international text (convention or Model Law).

Recently the European Court of Justice (ECJ) provided useful guidance on how to interpret Article 13 of the European Insolvency Regulation (EIR). Before this decision, the ECJ had already decided that if insolvency proceedings have been opened, the court where these insolvency proceedings are pending has jurisdiction in cases where the insolvency office holder wants to challenge a transaction based upon Article 13 of the EIR. The ECJ decided that this is also the case if a defendant is domiciled in a non-Member State.

Is it legally possible that Greece ceases to be a member of the Eurozone without exiting the EU and without changing the treaties which establish the European Union and what consequences would this have for existing contracts and outstanding bonds? Can such an exit be done on a temporary basis? We consider whether it is legally possible for Greece to temporarily cease to be a member of the Eurozone without a so-called “derogation”, i.e.

Currently, members of occupational pension schemes with less than two years’ qualifying service can leave and opt for a refund of their own contributions.

Essential Pensions News covers the latest pensions developments each month in an “at a glance” format. More detail is available by following the link under each summary. Read more

In order to obtain the recognition of foreign judgments in Spain as part of insolvency proceedings, Spain’s Insolvency Law (Ley 22/2003 de 9 de Julio, Concursal) must be analysed together with the European Insolvency Regulation (EIR) no 1346/2000. After analysing the stated legislation, one can affirm that with the aim of enforcing a foreign judgment as part of proceedings in Spain the following steps must be taken.

In 2010, Poštová Banka (the “Bank”) acquired on the secondary market, from primary dealers, interests in government bonds issued by Greece between 2007 and 2010 (the “Bonds”). In 2011, the Bonds were downgraded by various ratings agencies, which prompted the Greek government to pass the Greek Bondholders Act 2012.