Committee Articles

A recent decision by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Drawbridge Special Opportunities Fund LP v.

German corporate bankruptcy law will soon undergo a major reform when the proposed Gesetz zur weiteren Erleichterung der Sanierung von Unternehmen (ESUG, or the Company Restructuring Facilitation Act) passes through legislation. The objective of the ESUG is to facilitate the restructuring of companies, strengthen the role of creditors and advance debtor-in-possession (DIP) type orders (eigenverwaltung) and reorganization plans (insolvenzplan).

A new law recently published in Brazil will facilitate the making of new investments with limited liability. Federal Law No. 12,441, enacted on July 11, 2011 (Law 12,441), amended certain provisions of the Brazilian Civil Code (Federal Law No.

On April 19, 2011, the High Court of England and Wales heard an application for the sanction of a scheme of arrangement for Rodenstock GmbH, a solvent German company. Two days later, the court entered an order sanctioning the scheme, and indicating that Mr. Justice Briggs’ reasoning would be provided in a reserved judgment.

On June 14, 2010, the joint liquidators of Fairfield Sentry Ltd.—the largest Madoff “feeder fund”—filed a chapter 15 petition with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York seeking recognition of the fund’s British Virgin Islands (BVI)-based insolvency proceedings.

One of the by-products of the Lehman insolvency is an increased focus on client money protection. The decision of Briggs J in the Lehman case concerning client moneys, reported as Lehman Brothers International (Europe) (in administration) v. CRC Credit Fund Limited & Ors, [2009] EWHC 3228, highlights a number of deficiencies in the current regime.

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision may be most widely known as the originator of the “Basel Capital Standards,” “Basel II” and “Basel [III].” They provide guiding principles for capital for credit institutions (principally deposit-taking institutions) and related actors in the organized and regulated financial markets. The committee traces its origins largely to bank failures.

At one time, insolvency proceedings were primarily confined to one jurisdiction. However, in the age of expanding globalization, corporate insolvencies may now involve businesses and assets in multiple jurisdictions.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware recently granted recognition under chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code to the foreign liquidation proceedings of Saad Investments Finance Co. (No. 5) Ltd. (SIFCO 5).[1] The debtor is incorporated as an “exempted company” under the Cayman Companies Law.

Recently, the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, in In re Metcalfe & Mansfield Alternative Investments, held that broad nondebtor, third-party releases previously approved as part of foreign restructuring proceedings under the Canadian Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) where the restructuring plan was adopted by 96 percent of its creditors would be enforced in U.S.