In a corporate world where the capital structures of companies are becoming increasingly complex, schemes of arrangements under the Companies Act 2006 have established themselves as the restructuring procedure of choice for many distressed companies. This popularity is evidenced by the fact that schemes of arrangement have been increasingly used by overseas companies wishing to restructure their debts under the flexibility offered by English law.

Most commodities contracts are cross border, often with one or more parties located in a country where gaining access or cooperation to enforce an arbitration award or court judgment can be challenging.

If your counterparty is in a ‘difficult’ country, is there any point in incurring the time and cost of pursuing a claim in arbitration or litigation against them at all? Alternatively, do you already have awards or judgments against parties that you have not found a way to enforce? Are they worth any more than the paper they are written on?

We are increasingly being asked to advise non EU resident nationals, with cross jurisdictional lives, who wish to take advantage of the IVA regime in England & Wales.  A fairly standard scenario we see is this:

Kai Zeng and Kon M Asimacopoulos, Kirkland & Ellis

This is an extract from the first edition of GRR's The Art of the Ad Hoc. The whole publication is available here. 

The purpose and role of ad hoc committees from a debtor’s perspective: the initial phase

Yushan Ng and Helen Ward, Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft

This is an extract from the first edition of GRR's The Art of the Ad Hoc. The whole publication is available here. 

Chris Howard, Sullivan & Cromwell

This is an extract from the first edition of GRR's The Art of the Ad Hoc. The whole publication is available here. 

The relationship of an ad hoc committee with its stakeholder constituency

No power to bind: the importance of the underlying finance documents in relation to decision making

Nick Angel, Peter Newman and Edward Rasp, Milbank LLP

This is an extract from the first edition of GRR's The Art of the Ad Hoc. The whole publication is available here. 

Role and powers

Yen Sum and Lucy Cox, Sidley Austin

This is an extract from the first edition of GRR's The Art of the Ad Hoc. The whole publication is available here. 

How many committees?

In a capital structure involving multiple external debt tranches, one of the first questions that arises is the number of committees that will be required.

TRANSACTIONAL

May 2, 2017

Bankruptcy and Financial Restructuring Alert

Coming to America?--Applying Bankruptcy Code Section 109(a) to Vet Foreign Companies Filing US Bankruptcy Cases Under Chapter 15

By Andrew N. Goldman, Benjamin W. Loveland and Lauren R. Lifland

I. Introduction

THE RULING: CHAPTER 15 DEBTORS CAN ASSERT AVOIDANCE ACTIONS UNDER STATE LAW