On October 14, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a long-awaited ruling on whether Ultra Petroleum Corp.

In Short

The Situation: Courts have disagreed over whether a make-whole premium triggered by a borrower's bankruptcy filing must be disallowed as unmatured interest. They have also disputed whether the "solvent-debtor exception" requiring the payment of postpetition interest to unimpaired unsecured creditors of a solvent debtor survived the enactment of the Bankruptcy Code. Finally, courts have split on what rate of postpetition interest unimpaired unsecured creditors of a solvent debtor are entitled to receive.

Two and a half years after the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, and on the verge of an economic recession, important developments are emerging in Spanish insolvency law.

In Short

The Situation: Bankruptcy courts have split on what rate of post-petition interest unimpaired creditors of a solvent debtor are entitled to receive. Bankruptcy courts have variously ruled that such creditors were entitled to the contractual rate of interest, interest at the federal judgment rate (about the rate on a one-year Treasury bill) as of the bankruptcy petition date, or an equitable rate. Another possibility is that no interest is payable at all.

Tras dos años y medio desde que empezara la crisis del COVID-19 y a las puertas de una recesión económica, surgen novedades importantes en el Derecho de la Insolvencia en España.

El RDL 16/2020 de 28 de abril y el Texto Refundido de la Ley Concursal, que entrará en vigor el 1 de septiembre de 2020, han suscitado numerosas cuestiones, a la vista de la situación compleja que previsiblemente se avecina. Para abordar, desde un punto de vista práctico y ágil, las principales novedades que plantean, Bird & Bird celebró el pasado 30 de junio un webinar, bajo el título Principales novedades en materia preconcursal y concursal a raíz del RDL 16/2020 y el nuevo Texto Refundido de la Ley Concursal.

Introduction

The concept of winding up does not exclusively apply to insolvent companies. Solvent companies can also be wound up, on the initiation of the company’s directors and shareholders (for example, as part of a corporate reconstruction or to close down non-operating or redundant entities). 

An overview of the two key procedures to effect the dissolution of a solvent Australian company, being Members’ Voluntary Liquidation and Deregistration, is set out below. 

In brief

Even with the fiscal stimulus and other measures taken by the Federal and State governments in Australia, corporate insolvencies are likely to increase in coming months.

Under Australia's insolvency regimes, a distressed company may be subject to voluntary administration, creditor's voluntary winding up or court ordered winding up (collectively, an external administration). Each of these processes raises different issues for the commencement and continuation of court and arbitration proceedings.

Following the declaration of the state of alarm in Spain due to the COVID-19 outbreak on March 14 2020, the Spanish Government announced the implementation of a series of extraordinary measures in the financial sector in order to address the economic impact promoted by the rapid spread of COVID-19.

In summary

In our previous alert we discussed how Justice Markovic in the Federal Court of Australia had granted the administrators of retailer Colette Group relief from personal liability for rent in respect of 93 stores.