The Trustee for the Liquidation of MF Global Inc. – the defunct futures commission merchant that filed for bankruptcy in October 2011 – received approval from the US Bankruptcy Court overseeing its dissolution to make a final, cumulative 95 percent distribution on all allowed general unsecured creditor claims.
Unsecured general creditors of defunct MF Global, Inc. (other than those of its parent company MF Global Holdings Ltd.) will receive a final payment from the firm, giving them a total recovery of 95 percent of their approved claims, under a proposal made last week by the overseers of the liquidation of the firm and its parent company.
The United States bankruptcy judge overseeing the liquidation of MF Global Inc., approved the trustee’s proposal to pay all unsecured general creditors $461 million. Once paid, this distribution would result in total distributions to unsecured general creditors of 72 percent of their approved claims.
The New York State Attorney General settled a lawsuit against Ernst & Young related to its involvement in the financial statement preparation of Lehman Brothers Holding, Inc. The NY AG had alleged that the auditing firm had countenanced Lehman’s inclusion of certain repurchase transactions as sales and not as financings, which permitted the firm to remove “tens of billions of dollars” of securities from its balance sheet. According to the NY AG, the repo transactions—known as “Repo 105”—“served no legitimate purpose.
The trustee for the liquidation of MF Global Inc. is seeking permission from the bankruptcy judge overseeing the firm’s dissolution to make a distribution of US $461 million to unsecured general creditors. If approved, this distribution would result in total distributions to unsecured general creditors of 72 percent of their approved claims. To date, the trustee has distributed 100 percent of approved claims of MF Global’s customers (totaling US $6.7 billion), and 100 percent of approved secured, priority and administrative claims.
Key Point
The mere fact that the law of the country in which an asset is situated does not recognise the trust concept does not necessarily invalidate the trust at least as far as English Courts are concerned.
The Facts
Key Points
- The principle of modified universalism (being the principle underlying the common law power to assist foreign insolvency proceedings) continues to exist
- There is a common law power to order production of information to assist foreign insolvency proceedings
- Common law assistance does not enable office holders to do something they would not be able to do under the insolvency laws by which they are appointed
The Facts
Six trade associations representing non-dealer swap market participants sent a letter to the Financial Stability Board on November 4, urging the FSB to reconsider its initiative to promote contractual waivers of default rights under industry-standard derivative master agreements. The letter, signed by the Managed Funds Association, the Alternative Investment Management Association Limited, the American Council of Life Insurers, the Association of Institutional Investors, the Commodity Customer Coalition and the Commodity Markets Council, responds to comments made by the FSB in the cons
Fourteen former MF Global executives, including Jon Corzine, the former chairman and chief executive officer, are entitled to access most of a US $200 million directors and officers liability insurance policy purchased by MF Global Holdings prior to the firm filing for bankruptcy in October 2011, under the decision of a US bankruptcy court in NYC last week. The executives had previously made a motion to access the insurance.
Key Points
- Court cannot grant relief under the UK Cross Border Insolvency Regulations 2006 (CBIR) where it could not provide such relief in a domestic insolvency.
- Even if such option were possible, court would not do so where a contract is governed by English law.
- Possibility of effectively applying provisions of foreign law under the CBIR restricted.
The Facts