The Bankruptcy Protector

On August 18, 2022, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Indiana, in In re BWGS, LLC, No. 19-01487-JMC-7A, 2022 WL 3568045 (Bankr. S.D. Ind. Aug. 18, 2022), narrowly interpreted the safe harbor provision in section 546(e) of the Bankruptcy Code by refusing to dismiss a lawsuit against a guarantor whose liability was eliminated by the debtor’s payment to the bank that held the guarantee.

Overview on Section 546(e) of the Bankruptcy Code

A recent decision of the Cayman Islands Grand Court is an important reminder that a liquidator's costs claimed from trust assets must be proportionate and reasonable, and will be refused on certain grounds.

Background

The Bankruptcy Protector

On June 6, 2022, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling in Siegel v. Fitzgerald, 142 S. Ct. 1770 (U.S. June 6, 2022) that the increase in fees payable to the U.S. Trustee system in 2018 violated the uniformity aspect of the Bankruptcy Clause of the Constitution because it was not immediately applicable in the two states with Bankruptcy Administrators rather than U.S. Trustees.

The Cayman Islands Government has published a Commencement Order confirming that the Companies (Amendment) Act, 2021 will come into force on 31 August 2022.

The Amendment Act introduces a new corporate restructuring process and the concept of a dedicated restructuring officer into the Cayman Islands Companies Act (2022 Revision).

Under the Amendment Act, the filing of a petition for the appointment of a restructuring officer will trigger an automatic global moratorium on claims against the company, giving it the opportunity to seek to implement a restructuring.

Overview

A Cayman segregated portfolio company, Performance Insurance Company SPC, was placed into official liquidation. The joint liquidators' appointment extended to all of the underlying segregated portfolios (SPs), some of which were solvent and others insolvent. Two of the solvent SPs applied to the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands seeking the appointment of an additional liquidator of the company to separately represent the interests of those solvent SPs on the basis that the original liquidators were conflicted in administering both the solvent and insolvent SPs.

The Bankruptcy Protector

In an ex parte on short notice application, the Cayman Islands Grand Court considered the four hurdles that must be overcome for the appointment of joint provisional liquidators (JPLs).

The application was brought by an individual investor in Seahawk China Dynamic Fund (the Applicant and the Company). The Applicant submitted that he became aware of dishonest conduct on the part of Hao Liang (Mr Liang) who held all of the management shares in the Company.

The Bankruptcy Protector

The Cayman Islands' legislature has recently gazetted the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2021 (the Amendment Bill), proposing the introduction of a new corporate restructuring process and the concept of a dedicated 'restructuring officer' into the Cayman Islands Companies Act (2021 Revision). Under the Amendment Bill, the filing of a petition for the appointment of a restructuring officer would trigger an automatic global moratorium on claims against the company, giving it the opportunity to seek to implement a restructuring.