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The UK Supreme Court’s recent decision in El-Husseini and another v Invest Bank PSC [2025] UKSC 4 has clarified the circumstances in which section 423 of the Insolvency Act 1986 (the Act) provides protection against attempts by debtors to “defeat their creditors and make themselves judgment-proof.” This is a critical decision for insolvency practitioners, any corporate or fund which is involved in distressed deals and beyond to acquirers who were not aware they were dealing in distressed assets.

Executive Summary

In a radical departure from settled case law, the English High Court has eroded the protections of English law creditors guaranteed by the Rule in Gibbs1 .

Executive Summary

Investors in LMA-based intercreditor agreements1 (ICA) should be reassured by the commercial approach recently taken by the High Court in construing the "Distressed Disposal" provisions (DD Provisions).

It is now two years since the 30 April 2021 introduction of the Administration (Restrictions on Disposal etc. to Connected Persons) Regulations 2021 (the "Regulations") and a good time to look back at whether the Regulations have achieved their purpose, what issues remain and what the next two years might look like.

Summary

山东胜通集团股份有限公司(以下简称“胜通集团”)债券信息披露违法案是证监会2021年证监稽查20起典型违法案例之一,相关中介机构均被行政处罚,备受资本市场关注。日前,青岛市中级人民法院(下称“青岛中院”)对“胜通债”虚假陈述诉讼案作出一审判决。

本案系北京金融法院“大连机床”判例后债券虚假陈述诉讼领域的又一经典判例,一审判决诸多亮点值得点赞:(1)新《证券法》实施后全国法院首例认定债券虚假陈述造成的债券投资损失应为投资差额损失而非债券票面本息;(2)全国法院首例在债券虚假陈述案件中剔除系统风险和非系统风险所致债券投资损失;(3)充分考察债券价格、交易量变化,突破性地认定发行人“澄清公告”发布日为揭露日;(4)创新性地认定案涉债券市场并非有效市场,应以破产清偿金额来确定债券基准价。

该案判决对债券虚假陈述投资损失的认定,标志着我国债券虚假陈述损失的司法认定思路已开始理性回归“损害填平”的侵权责任本质。此外,该案判决对债券虚假陈述揭露日和基准价方面的认定,进一步丰富了人民法院审理债券虚假陈述专业性问题的实践,积累了宝贵经验,具有相当的前沿性和示范性。

On October 17, 2022, Justice Andrea Masley of the NY Supreme Court issued a decision and order denying all but one of the motion to dismiss claims filed by Boardriders, Oaktree Capital (an equity holder, term lender, and “Sponsor” under the credit agreement), and an ad hoc group of lenders (the “Participating Lenders”) that participated in an “uptiering” transaction that included new money investments and roll-ups of existing term loan debt into new priming debt that would sit at the top of the company’s capital structure.

On October 14, 2022, the Fifth Circuit issued its decision in Ultra Petroleum, granting favorable outcomes to “unimpaired” creditors that challenged the company’s plan of reorganization and argued for payment (i) of a ~$200 million make-whole and (ii) post-petition interest at the contractual rate, not the Federal Judgment Rate. At issue on appeal was the Chapter 11 plan proposed by the “massively solvent” debtors—Ultra Petroleum Corp. (HoldCo) and its affiliates, including subsidiary Ultra Resources, Inc.

Key Points

Hong Kong Airlines (HKA) has announced that it is seeking to implement a restructuring of its aircraft lease obligations and other liabilities by court action in the UK and Hong Kong.

The plan proposes to give aircraft lessors a right to an upfront cash recovery — of about 5 percent of their claims (or in the case of lessors of aircraft being retained, the right to elect equity in the restructured HKA) — and potential future payouts starting in 2028 tied to the future earnings of the airline.