Europe

Norway’s DOF Group, which has a fleet of more than 60 offshore service vessels, now faces either a forced restructuring under the Norwegian Reconstruction Act, or bankruptcy, MarineLog reported. At an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) today, the company’s shareholders rejected acceptance of a proposed consensual restructuring that had been agreed to by the company’s major creditors. Prior to the EGM, the shareholders were sent a letter from the creditors that noted that they hold claims against the company equivalent to approximately NOK 23 billion (about $2.3 billion).

The low profitability of RH Entertainment Ltd’s summer 2022 festivals and the resulting turnover has driven the company into corporate restructuring, Chaoszine reported. On 20 October 2022, the District Court commenced restructuring proceedings against RH Entertainment Ltd. “The restructuring proceedings involved issues that we could not foresee. We had to pay practically all our bills in advance, both at the filing stage and after the restructuring proceedings started.

Malta's Pre-Insolvency Bill (‘the Bill’) is at its second reading in Parliament, Lexology reported. The Bill is being proposed as an Act to partially transpose EU Directive 2019/1023 (‘the Directive’) on preventive restructuring frameworks, on discharge of debt and disqualifications, and on measures to increase the efficiency of procedures concerning restructuring, insolvency and discharge of debt. In short, new legal tools are being provided in a bid to rescue viable businesses in distress from entering into a state of insolvency.

On Friday, Oct. 7, 2022, the Russian government moved forward by presidential decree to disenfranchise the owners of the Sakhalin-1 energy project, including the foreign nationals of several countries that the Russian government designated as "unfriendly countries," Mondaq reported. Russia has applied the "unfriendly country" designation to any country, including the U.S., that has joined in international sanctions against Russia.

Life doesn’t get much easier for troubled EV maker Arrival: Shares in the Nasdaq-listed, but UK-based, company have continued to slide – falling from $0.42 to $0.38, following a worrying third quarter trading update from the company, capital.com reported. Arrival revealed a loss for the period of $310.3m, compared to a loss of $30.6m in the third quarter of 2021. This Q3 loss in 2022 included non-cash impairment charges and write-offs of $232m. Adjusted EBITDA loss for the period was $73.3m, compared to an adjusted EBITDA loss of $45.9m in third quarter of 2021.

Workers walked off the job in Greece and Belgium on Wednesday during nationwide strikes against increasing consumer prices, disrupting transportation, forcing flight cancellations and shutting down public services in the latest European protests over the rising cost of living, the Associated Press reported. In Greece, where workers were holding a 24-hour general strike, thousands of protesters marched through the streets of Athens and the northern city of Thessaloniki.

The American owners of Liverpool F.C., one of soccer’s most storied teams, have hired Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to explore a sale of the club, a six-time European champion, according to two people with direct knowledge of the team’s plans, the New York Times reported. Word that Liverpool’s owners are mulling a potential sale comes only months after a group led by the California-based investment fund Clearlake paid a record $3 billion for Liverpool’s Premier League rival Chelsea.

Croydon Council has hired a firm to investigate the leaking of a long-awaited report about the authority’s financial collapse in 2020, MyLondon reported. The Penn Report was completed 18 months ago and was written by Local Government Association’s Richard Penn. He looked into the financial mismanagement of the council before it was forced to issue a Section 114 notice, declaring effective bankruptcy. Despite being completed 18 months ago, the damning report has remained unpublished officially.

A court in Skopje is examining the grounds for opening bankruptcy proceedings against North Macedonia-based construction company Beton Skopje at the request of company employees, the Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia said on Tuesday, SeeNews reported. The court has appointed an interim bankruptcy administrator and prohibited the company from using its property without the approval of the administrator, the Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia said in a statement published on its Facebook profile.