The financial thresholds of the Small Companies Administrative Rescue Procedure (SCARP) have been increased, meaning that SCARP is now a potential option for a larger number of companies in Ireland.

SCARP, which was introduced in 2021, aims to provide a cost-effective restructuring option for viable but insolvent companies. It is available to small and micro companies as defined in the Companies Act and is not an option for larger companies, which must use other restructuring mechanisms.

On Wednesday 19 June 2024, the Irish Corporate Enforcement Authority ("CEA") published its first-ever annual report. The Annual Report covers the 18-month period from July 2022 (when it replaced and assumed the responsibilities of the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement) to 31 December 2023.

Supervision of corporate insolvency

The CEA has a statutory role in supervising the liquidation of insolvent companies and taking enforcement actions in respect of struck off insolvent companies.

The Small Company Administrative Rescue Process (SCARP) was first introduced on 7 December 2021, to provide a quicker and more affordable formal restructuring process to businesses in Ireland. SCARP allows businesses to restructure their debts by agreeing to a rescue plan with their creditors.

The court-fashioned doctrine of "equitable mootness" has frequently been applied to bar appeals of bankruptcy court orders under circumstances where reversal or modification of an order could jeopardize, for example, the implementation of a negotiated chapter 11 plan or related agreements and upset the expectations of third parties who have relied on the order.

The Irish Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment signed into law the European Union (Preventive Restructuring) Regulations 2022 on 29 July 2022. This is the first significant piece of legislation dealing with corporate rescue in Ireland since 1990, when the jurisdiction's examinership process was first codified.

To promote the finality and binding effect of confirmed chapter 11 plans, the Bankruptcy Code categorically prohibits any modification of a confirmed plan after it has been "substantially consummated." Stakeholders, however, sometimes attempt to skirt this prohibition by characterizing proposed changes to a substantially consummated chapter 11 plan as some other form of relief, such as modification of the confirmation order or a plan document, or reconsideration of the allowed amount of a claim. The U.S.

One year ago, we wrote that, unlike in 2019, when the large business bankruptcy landscape was generally shaped by economic, market, and leverage factors, the COVID-19 pandemic dominated the narrative in 2020. The pandemic may not have been responsible for every reversal of corporate fortune in 2020, but it weighed heavily on the scale, particularly for companies in the energy, retail, restaurant, entertainment, health care, travel, and hospitality industries.

In 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit made headlines when it ruled that creditors' state law fraudulent transfer claims arising from the 2007 leveraged buyout ("LBO") of Tribune Co. ("Tribune") were preempted by the safe harbor for certain securities, commodity, or forward contract payments set forth in section 546(e) of the Bankruptcy Code. In that ruling, In re Tribune Co. Fraudulent Conveyance Litig., 946 F.3d 66 (2d Cir. 2019), cert. denied, 209 L. Ed. 2d 568 (U.S. Apr.

Introduction
Business Bankruptcy Filings
Public Company Bankruptcies
Notable Bankruptcy Rulings
Legislative Developments

One year ago, we wrote that the large business bankruptcy landscape in 2019 was generally shaped by economic, market, and leverage factors, with notable exceptions for disastrous wildfires, liabilities arising from the opioid crisis, price-fixing fallout, and corporate restructuring shenanigans.

The year 2020 was a different story altogether. The headline was COVID-19.