On April 3, 2020, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) re-issued and extended General License No. 13E (“GL 13E”) to continue the validity period for transactions concerning Nynas AB and its subsidiaries (“Nynas”) that otherwise would be prohibited under Executive Order 13850 or Executive Order 13884 given Nynas’s 50% indirect ownership by Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (“PdVSA”).
The Australian Federal Court has made orders relieving the administrators of retailer Colette from personal liability for rent in response to the COVID-19 crisis and the current uncertainty in respect of government policy about rent relief for tenants: see
What you need to know
In re Markus, 607 B.R. 379 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 2019) [click for opinion]
To date, EU-wide insolvency legislation has focused on resolving conflicts of laws issues between Member States. Now that the Preventive Restructuring Framework Directive (the "Directive")1 has successfully navigated its way through the Council and European Parliament (albeit with some significant amendments to the original text), all of that is set to change.
1. Nature of process
Chapter 11 used to effect operational restructuring, deleverage balance sheet, and/or commence asset sale of the business as a going concern
Insolvency Act process primarily used to effect a pre-packaged sale of the business or assets effected by administrators (i.e. external qualified appointees).
In brief
In recent years, it has become common practice in large chapter 11 cases for debtors to include language in their proposed chapter 11 plan which purports to release certain nondebtors from the claims of third parties. Although some third parties may consent to the release—such as by voting in favor of the plan or otherwise electing to do so during the plan solicitation process—circumstances frequently arise in which the debtors seek approval from the bankruptcy court to release nondebtors from third parties’ claims without the consent of the third parties.
This panel discussion at INSOL London 2022, moderated by Debra Dandeneau, Chair of the Global Restructuring & Insolvency Group at Baker McKenzie, explored how rescue financing works in different parts of the globe and provided insights on some issues that alternative capital providers typically face. The panellists also brought a wide variety of experience and views to creating an ideal system that promotes restructuring and rescue financing.
Some of the key takeaways and insights were:
The US Supreme Court has reversed the First Circuit's ruling in Mission Products (Mission Prod. Holdings v. Tempnology, LLC (In re Tempnology, LLC), 879 F.3d 389 (1st Cir. 2018)), thereby allowing the trademark licensee in that case to continue using the licensed trademark despite the debtor trademark licensor's rejection of the underlying trademark agreement in its bankruptcy case.
Introduction