On November 7, 2014, Judge Steven Rhodes, the judge presiding over the City of Detroit's bankruptcy case, announced that he would confirm the City's proposed Plan of Adjustment (the "Plan"), including the creditor settlements contained within that Plan. A more detailed written opinion will follow, but the opinion read from the bench on November 7, together with an earlier opinion in this case, are among the most important precedents in U.S. municipal bankruptcy law.

For the benefit of our clients and friends investing in European distressed opportunities, our European Network is sharing some current global developments.

Under the "resolution measure," the healthy assets and businesses of BES will be spun off into a new bank ("Novo Banco," provisionally), while problem assets will remain with the vestigial entity, and losses will be borne by shareholders and subordinated creditors. Novo Banco will be recapitalized by Portugal's central bank and rebranded.

Key Points:

Courts will limit an administrator's liability where proposed funding is to be used directly to advance an agenda consistent with the objects of Part 5.3A of the Corporations Act.

A recent decision of the NSW Supreme Court highlights the flexibility of Part 5.3A of the Corporations Act and the ability of administrators to seek orders protecting their interests and facilitating restructures, and was the first stage of what promises to be a novel and challenging administration (In the matter of Nexus Energy Ltd [2014] NSWSC 1041).

Recent Developments

Key Points:

A forbearance arrangement is a useful instrument to ensure that both the lender and the customer are aligned on the proposed turnaround or workout.

Key Points:

A Senate Committee has said amendments to Australia's corporate insolvency laws should be considered to encourage and facilitate corporate turnarounds.

The Senate Economics References Committee called for a review of Australia's corporate insolvency laws to ensure they facilitate corporate turnarounds. One suggestion was for the implementation of certain features of the US' Chapter 11 regime into Australia's insolvency laws.

The arguments for changing the insolvency regime

For the benefit of our clients and friends investing in European distressed opportunities, our European Network is sharing some current developments.

Recent Developments

For the benefit of our clients and friends investing in European distressed opportunities, our European Network is sharing some current developments.

Recent Developments

One of the many changes to be implemented as part of the Federal Budget delivered last night was a change to the Fair Entitlements Guarantee (FEG) (previously known as the General Employee Entitlements and Redundancy Scheme or GEERS), which  guarantees certain unpaid employee entitlements in the event of insolvency or bankruptcy of that person's employer.