Government bonds were long considered a safe investment that offered the potential for high returns. However, after Argentina announced in 2002 that it would no longer service its bond debt and after Greece restructured its sovereign debt in March and December 2012, the question arises as to what investors can do to avoid the significant losses of capital (up to 70% in case of Argentina and over 80% in case of Greece) which almost always accompany sovereign debt restructurings.

Background

Administration

Administration is a procedure by which a company can be reorganised and its assets realised whilst being protected by a moratorium from actions brought by creditors (explained below).  

Objectives

A company can be put into administration if the objectives of administration are likely to be achieved. These are set out in the Insolvency Act 1986 (the “Act”)4 as:  

The rapid evolution of a robust secondary market for claims against the three largest failed Icelandic banks provides a powerful example of the prompt adaptation of an existing secondary-market legal framework -- originally developed in the US and Europe -- to a complex and novel bankruptcy regime and trading environment.

On December 21, ISDA announced that it sought and was granted permission to intervene in the Lehman Brothers International Europe case in order to ensure that the arguments reflecting the market's interpretation of Section 2(a)(iii) of the ISDA Master Agreement were made before the court. The court agreed with ISDA that Section 2(a)(iii) is "suspensive" in effect. ISDA Release.

Tax authorities have perceived recently that international corporate groups are going through internal business restructurings in large part or in whole to achieve income tax savings.

ISDA is pleased at how the industry infrastructure for CDS worked in the context of the Lehman default and settlement. It also pointed out the misperceptions about the role of CDS in the financial crisis.

1 Advantages to aircraft financiers

For an aircraft financier, the virtues of the Cape Town Convention and its Aircraft Equipment Protocol (together Cape Town) are that it aims to:  

On Monday, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (ISDA) announced that it will issue a CDS auction protocol regarding the settlement of credit derivatives that reference Smurfit-Stone Consolidated Enterprise Inc. The protocol is a response to Smurfit-Stone’s recent filing for reorganization under Chapter 11 in the US Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware.  

An examination of the impact of an insolvent respondent in an arbitration.

In 2008, the catastrophic effect of the credit crunch spread to most world economies, touching governments, companies and individuals alike. As in previous recessions, insolvency is affecting increasing numbers of individuals and companies. UK government figures show that individual insolvencies went up by 8.8% in the third quarter of 2008, with corporate liquidations up by 10.5% in the same period. Commentators predict that this trend will only accelerate through 2009.

Given the current worldwide economic climate, the number of companies facing insolvency that have assets in multiple jurisdictions around the world has increased dramatically. It is not unusual in today’s global economy for a corporation to have commercial offices, production plants and/ or research facilities in many different countries. A company that is faced with the bleak picture of insolvency may be forced to make decisions on whether to seek protection under a number of different statutory structures.