On Monday, 7 December, the Irish High Court affirmed the appointment of an examiner, Kieran Wallace of KPMG, to a number of companies in the Norwegian Air Group (“Norwegian”) as well as the Oslo based parent company of the group, Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA (“NAS”). The appointment of the examiner will provide Norwegian with critical protection from its creditors for a period of approximately 100 days. This article briefly outlines some aspects of the examinership process and what it entails for Norwegian’s creditors.

The High Court has recently brought welcome clarity to how pensions are dealt with in the event of a bankruptcy, in the case of Lehane –v- Wealth Options and Brian O'Neill.

Apperley Investments Limited & Others v Monsoon Accessorize Limited [2020] IEHC 523

The Commercial Court has refused to apply the provisions of a Company Voluntary Arrangement (“CVA”), negotiated pursuant to the Insolvency Act 1986 in the UK, to Irish landlords as it would be “manifestly contrary to the public policy of the State”.

These proceedings were taken by Irish landlords over properties in Dublin and Cork leased to the fashion retailer Monsoon.

While the recent Brexit trade deal contains various provisions for the conduct of trade in the post-Brexit era, it does not provide clarification for new cross-border insolvency proceedings involving the United Kingdom.

However, the Withdrawal Agreement which came into force on 1 February 2020 and established the terms of the UK's withdrawal from the European Union, does provide some comfort for insolvency practitioners, but only where insolvency proceedings were opened prior to the end of the Brexit transition period.

It is a basic principle of the law of corporate insolvency that the assets of a company are effectively frozen for the benefit of all of the company’s creditors when a liquidator is appointed. The principle is provided for under Section 602 of the Companies Act 2014. It provides that any disposition of company property, which includes the sale of shares in the company and the charging of company property, that is done without the sanction of the liquidator or a director who has retained the power to do so, will be void unless the court otherwise orders.

The filing of winding up petitions and appointment of provisional liquidators in the matters of Oasis Fashions Ireland Limited and Warehouse Fashion Ireland Limited.

Introduction

The landscape within which business is conducted has changed drastically due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent Government restrictions.

Speed read

The High Court has recently ruled that the agreement between the liquidator of a company and the parent of that company, which contemplated the transfer of all of the assets of the company to the parent gave rise to a trust arrangement on the facts of the case. As a consequence of that trust arrangement, lands which were inadvertently not transferred by the liquidator in the course of the liquidation were deemed not to have vested in the State when the company was dissolved, as would otherwise have been the case under the State Property Act, 1954.

Hayes recently successfully defended a Liquidator in an action by a shareholder of a company to remove him in a long running complex liquidation of a company with foreign subsidiaries and assets.

Factual Background

SJK Wholesale Limited (In Liquidation) v Companies Act 2014 [2020] IEHC 196

Introduction

In a recent decision, the Irish High Court refused to grant a liquidator access to a Google email account.

The court ruled that Irish insolvency law did not permit a court to order Google Ireland to grant the liquidator access to the email account in circumstances where the email account was created in the name of an individual rather than the company itself.

The COVID-19 global crisis has brought cross border insolvencies into focus as companies consider the challenges that may arise where assets are situated across a number of jurisdictions and where an insolvency event may occur. Drawing on our experience of cross border restructurings, and the issues that should be considered, we look at the key issues to consider when assessing if you should implement a restructuring where an Irish company is involved and which restructuring tool to avail of.