Fallout continues from the November 2020 bankruptcy sale of Town Sports’ assets to a new entity backed, in part, by an ad hoc group of Town Sports’ prepetition lenders.

With more than $1.7 trillion in student loan debt outstanding in the United States, student loan borrowers sometimes try to turn to the bankruptcy courts for relief, often without success due to the fact that most student loans are presumed to be nondischargeable.[1] In its July 15, 2021 decision in In re Homaidan,

A new cooperation arrangement for mutual recognition of and assistance to cross-border corporate insolvency and debt restructuring proceedings has been established between Mainland China and Hong Kong (the Cooperation Arrangement).

The Cooperation Arrangement is provided in a Record of Meeting on Mutual Recognition of and Assistance to Bankruptcy (Insolvency) proceedings between the Courts of the Mainland and of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (the ROM) signed by the Mainland’s Supreme People's Court (SPC) and Hong Kong’s Department of Justice on 14 May 2021.

1. Hurricane Energy PLC: Restructuring Plan

(A) Convening Hearing

The UK Government has published a Consultation¹ which sets out its proposals for targeted (but significant) amendments to certain aspects of the existing UK insolvency arrangements for insurers.

The English High Court has sanctioned the restructuring plans proposed by the Virgin Active group following a hearing contested by a group of the gym chain's landlords. The decision represents the first use of the restructuring plan procedure, introduced during the summer of 2020, to restructure a lease portfolio, demonstrating the utility of the tool for debtors when implementing a significant restructuring across the capital structure, and as an alternative to the much-used company voluntary arrangement.

Earlier this month, judgments were handed down in the landlord challenges to two Company Voluntary Arrangements ("CVAs"), New Look and Regis. The challenge to the New Look CVA was unsuccessful, although permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal has been given. Whilst the Regis challenge lead to the revocation of the CVA, the majority of the landlords' arguments failed. These judgments provide important guidance on the use of landlord CVAs and their terms.

The Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas dismissed the National Rifle Association’s (“NRA”) bankruptcy case on May 11, finding that the case was not filed in good faith. In his opinion, Judge Harlin Hale found that there was cause for dismissal because the case was filed “to gain unfair litigation advantage and … to avoid a state regulatory scheme,” neither of which he considered to be a purpose intended or sanctioned by the Bankruptcy Code.

After more than one year since the Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, was established pursuant to the US Cares Act in March 2020, the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) has recently reversed its policy that prohibited companies in bankruptcy from applying for PPP funding due to their status as debtors in bankruptcy.

On 26 March 2021, Mr Justice Zacaroli of the English High Court sanctioned a restructuring plan (the Plan) proposed by gategroup Guarantee Limited (Gategroup), following approval at two creditors' meetings convened pursuant to a judgment handed down by Mr Justice Zacaroli on 17 February 2021.