Executive Summary

Judges of Barcelona unify principles on certain points of insolvency law

International case law

European jurisprudence on universal and territorial procedures

Judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union of April 18, 2024 (AIR BERLIN case)

The Singapore International Commercial Court ("SICC") has handed down its first insolvency-related ruling. The court granted recognition and full force and effect to Indonesia's flagship airline's restructuring plan. That plan had been approved in accordance with Indonesian law. In granting recognition to the Indonesian plan under Singapore's version of the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency, the SICC overruled objections to recognition from aircraft lessors.

In Short

Over the past several years, unitranche facilities have become increasingly prevalent. This growth has been driven by the ever-growing class of private credit and direct lenders who initially developed the unitranche facility structure, along with traditional bank lenders now joining this market. The unitranche structure has several advantages, including typically quicker execution for the parties involved and in some cases a lower cost of capital to the borrower.

Bed Bath & Beyond, the home goods retailer, has filed bankruptcy under Chapter 11 and plans to conduct liquidation sales and close all of its brick-and-mortar stores by June 30, as reported by The New York Times. The retailer points to an inability to adjust to the growth of online shopping as a reason for its downfall.

The United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York has ruled that a creditor or trustee seeking to recover a subsequent transfer under Section 550(a) of the Bankruptcy Code need not obtain a judgment of avoidance against the subsequent transferee before proceeding with the recovery action.

The commercial judges of Madrid publish a guidefor the appointment of an expert on insolvency pre-pack

Public disclosure not required of appointment of expert in restructuring in the context of a pre-insolvency notice

Decision by Pontevedra Commercial Court No 3 on November 16, 2022

In the context of a pre-insolvency notice made on a confidential basis in which the debtor requests appointment of the expert in restructuring, Pontevedra Commercial Court took the view that the appointment does not have to be sent to the Public Insolvency Register to publicly disclose their identity.