The English Court of Appeal has recently decided that a corporation that held shares in a company remained a shareholder notwithstanding the shareholding company's dissolution.
BWE Estates Limited had two shareholders: an individual named David who held 75% of its shares and a company, Belvedere Limited, which held the remaining 25%. Although Belvedere was dissolved in 1996, it remained listed as a shareholder in BWE's share register.
In the English High Court, the joint administrators of four English companies within the former Lehman Brothers group sought directions from the Court in respect of a proposed settlement. The settlement would put to rest substantial inter-company claims including those at issue in the 'Waterfall III' proceedings.
In a second application heard on the same day, Hildyard J considered an application by the administrators of Lehman Brothers Europe Limited (LBEL) for directions that would enable a surplus to be distributed to the sole member of LBEL while LBEL remained in administration. The proposed scheme had material benefits for both shareholders and creditors. The administrators acknowledged that the orders sought were an indirect means of circumventing the Insolvency Act 1986 (UK), which does not expressly provide for directors to make distributions during an administration.
The Court of Appeal has recently dismissed an appeal from the High Court's judgment (discussed in our September 2016 update) setting aside a compromise under Part 14 of the Companies Act 1993 after finding that the challenging creditors, who had voted against the compromise, had been unfairly prejudiced by the decision to call only one meeting of creditors.
In Day v The Official Assignee as Liquidator of GN Networks Ltd (in Liq) [2016] NZHC 2400, the High Court rejected a claim that the funding arrangement at issue constituted maintenance or champerty.
Yesterday, the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law concluded its series of hearings on the ramifications of auto industry bankruptcies. Testifying before the committee were:
Panel I:
Today, Treasury Secretary Geithner released a statement on the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry.
Yesterday morning, Chrysler Group LLC (formerly New CarCo Acquisition LLC), backed by Italian automaker Fiat S.p.A., acquired substantially all of Chrysler’s assets. Under the terms of the deal, a union retiree trust will initially own 55% of the new company, Fiat S.p.A. will own 20% and the U.S.
Late Sunday night, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Arthur Gonzalez approved the sale of most of Chrysler's assets to Italian Automaker Fiat S.p.A., as contemplated in the Master Transaction Agreement between the two companies.
In an order dated May 7, 2009, Judge Arthur Gonzales approved Chrysler’s proposed bidding procedures for the sale of substantially all of the Company’s assets to a newly formed entity that would continue business under Chrysler’s name.