The Justice Department's bankruptcy trustee is protesting Bahrain's Awal Bank BSC's request to withhold from public view amounts owed to creditors and other financial details typically exposed in Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. The objection filed Wednesday puts the bankruptcy trustee at odds with the foreign administrator that Bahraini authorities have appointed to manage Awal's insolvency proceedings around the globe. That administrator has said that withholding specific creditor details is in line with procedures followed in Bahrain.
Chapter 15 Headlines
The federal government is questioning whether our neighbors to the north will be looking out for the U.S. taxpayers in a Canadian pharmaceutical company’s insolvency case, The Wall Street Journal Bankruptcy Beat blog reported. The National Institutes of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services objected last week to Angiotech Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s request to gain U.S. courts’ recognition of its case in Canada. The Vancouver drug maker sought that recognition through its Chapter 15 bankruptcy filing with the Wilmington, Del., bankruptcy court.
A bankruptcy judge granted Bahrain's Awal Bank BSC a two-week extension to control its bankruptcy case, setting up a showdown with its only U.S. creditor, HSBC Bank USA, which is seeking to have the Chapter 11 case thrown out, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. The extension Judge Allan L. Gropper of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan approved Thursday will allow Awal to make its argument to maintain control of its bankruptcy until August at the same hearing that HSBC Holdings PLC's U.S. unit will ask the judge to dismiss the case. That hearing is set for March 1.
Vitro SAB, Mexico’s largest glassmaker, agreed to dismiss the Chapter 15 petition it filed in New York in mid-December, according to a document submitted yesterday to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Fort Worth, Texas, where bondholders filed involuntary Chapter 11 petitions a month earlier against Vitro’s U.S. subsidiaries, Bloomberg reported. Vitro was forced into dismissing the Chapter 15 case following a ruling from a court in Mexico this month dismissing Vitro’s attempted reorganization under that country’s version of Chapter 11.
Judge Stuart M. Bernstein on Wednesday approved Comercial Mexicana's exit from chapter 15 protection in the U.S., the final step in the Mexican supermarket chain's restructuring of $1.54 billion in debt, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported on Friday. The order brings an end to Comercial Mexicana's U.S. bankruptcy case, which was filed after the supermarket chain sought protection under Mexico's equivalent of chapter 11.
A New York State Judge has approved a debt restructuring deal between retailer Comercial Mexicana and its creditors, the company said yesterday in a filing with the Mexican stock exchange, Reuters reported yesterday. Comerci defaulted on its obligations in late 2008 following heavy losses on currency derivatives bets, triggering a bitter battle with its creditors. The supermarket operator's plan to repay creditors about $1.5 billion over eight years was approved by a Mexican court in late November. Comerci also filed for chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in the United States.
Mexican glassmaker Vitro, which has been struggling with high debt and falling sales, said it filed a restructuring plan with a local court, Reuters reported. The Monterrey-based company, which makes everything from beer bottles to perfume containers for international luxury brands, also said on Tuesday that it would seek protection from creditors under a Chapter 15 proceeding in U.S. courts once a Mexican judge approves its plan. Vitro's initiative calls for the restructuring of $1.5 billion of debt with a combination of new notes due 2019, convertible bonds and a cash payment.
Bahrain's Awal Bank BSC is withdrawing its request to withhold financial details and now plans to comply with Chapter 11 disclosure requirements, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Awal's U.K.-based administrator had previously asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan for permission to follow the protocol of reorganizations in Bahrain, allowing the company to withhold information typically made public in U.S. cases, such as the exact amounts owed to the 20 largest creditors. Bahraini authorities placed Awal into administration in July 2009.
A unit of HSBC Holdings PLC is protesting an attempt by Bahrain's Awal Bank BSC to pursue Chapter 11 protection in the U.S., saying Awal is seeking to cherry-pick the portions of the Bankruptcy Code it would like to use while ignoring other aspects of the law, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. HSBC Bank USA, which claims to be among Awal's largest creditors, said the Bahrain bank is trying to take advantage of U.S. laws in an attempt to claw back an errant $13 million wire transfer.
Compania Mexicana de Aviacion SA, Mexico’s biggest airline by passengers, won its request for bankruptcy protection from U.S. creditors, after disputes were resolved with a bank and a group of airports, Bloomberg reported. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn in Manhattan court today approved Mexicana’s request for protection under Chapter 15 of the U.S. bankruptcy code. The ruling will help the 87-year-old company reorganize in its main bankruptcy in Mexico by giving it a legal shield from U.S. creditors.