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.

In the US distressed market, liability management has emerged as an effective and widely accepted tool to increase liquidity, restructure debts and extend a borrower’s runway to help it avoid insolvency. However, although not unheard of, it is yet to achieve the same prevalence in Europe, where documents are still catching up to the level of flexibility seen in the US, and different capital structures and legal regimes raise different issues.

Lenders often require their borrowers to be “special purpose entities” in real estate transactions. This is a way that lenders can mitigate their bankruptcy risk in the event that the borrower or any of its parent entities file for bankruptcy. In addition, since most real estate financing is non-recourse, lenders require that the borrower is a separate, special purpose entity so that no other property or business will impact the property which is the subject of the underlying loan.

On April 19, 2021, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia granted a motion (the “Seal Motion”) filed by the Intelsat S.A. debtors (the “Debtors”) to seal the hearing on the Debtors’ motion to extend exclusivity and motion to compel plan mediation.

“The discharge of claims in bankruptcy applies with no less force to claims that are meritorious, sympathetic, or diligently pursued. Though the result may chafe one’s innate sense of fairness, not all unfairness represents a violation of due process.”

.A look at relevant employment laws and litigation vulnerabilities that companies, including their owners, officers and directors, should consider before ceasing operations or filing for bankruptcy. 

Third-party releases, particularly releases of non-debtor affiliated guarantors, are commonly a critical feature of a successful cross-border restructuring. In U.S. restructurings, where New York law typically governs the arrangements among a borrower, its lenders/noteholders and its guarantors, the restructuring or release of the primary obligor does not, without more, result in the restructuring or release of the guarantors’ obligations in respect of the guarantees. For this reason, in U.S.

On April 25, 2021, Secure Home Holdings LLC and various affiliates, which provide home security services and smart home automation to residential and small business customers, filed a petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Case No. 21-10745). The company reports $100 million to $500 million in both assets liabilities.

On April 24, 2021, New York-based beachwear retailer L&L Wings, Inc., which operates 26 stores in the Carolinas, Florida, Texas and California, filed a petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (Case No. 21-10795).

On April 24, 2021, Augustus Intelligence Inc., a New York based AI systems developer, filed a petition under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Case No. 21-10744). The company reports $10 million to $50 million in assets and $1 million to $10 million in liabilities.