On 28 March 2019 the European Parliament adopted a Directive on insolvency, restructuring and second chance (the Directive). This project has had a long tail, following a Commission Recommendation issued in 2014 and, after that had no impact, a draft Directive in November 2016. This draft Directive is now about come to fruition. It has three main aims
1. to ensure that member states have a preventive restructuring framework – which includes a restructuring plan;
Are you prepared to take advantage if one of your competitors falls into difficult times or enters an insolvency process? Do you know your way around buying from a distressed seller? What are the things you need to know? How can you prepare? What will make your bid most attractive?
Recent high profile collapses such as HMV have highlighted the opportunities that can be found within the distressed space – if you are prepared and know how to act swiftly.
On 18 December 2018 the English Court of Appeal held in the case of OJSC International Bank of Azerbaijan that the rule in Gibbs is still a fundamental tenet of English insolvency law and not to be sidestepped by the Cross-Border Insolvency Regulations.
Facts
The facts in summary are these:
In yet another example of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) making its company and insolvency law even more versatile, the DIFC has introduced a mechanism which will operate in a similar manner to a scheme of arrangement under English law. The law came into effect on 12 November 2018.
Key terms
In September 2018 the Dubai International Financial Centre Authority (“DIFCA”) announced that it proposes to replace its current insolvency law with a new law to update the insolvency regime in the Dubai International Financial Centre (“DIFC”) and that it has launched a consultation in relation to the same.
Why are changes proposed?
Over the Bank holiday weekend, the UK government announced that it intends to introduce new legislation to implement certain measures (detailed below) as soon as parliamentary time permits.
INSOL Europe attended the 52nd session of Working Group V (Insolvency law) held in Vienna from 18 to 22 December 2018 in its capacity as an invited international non-governmental organisation (NGO) with observer status. Other observers included, inter alia, World Bank, European Investment Bank, European Banking Federation, the American Bar Association, the International Bar Association, INSOL International, International Insolvency Institute, European Law Institute.
Germany's major legal reform aiming to facilitate group insolvencies comes into effect on April 21, 2018 (full German text). The new law allows insolvency proceedings over companies within a corporate group to be concentrated at a single German insolvency court and/or to be administered by one insolvency administrator.
The German Parliament passed an act to reduce the risk of clawback actions and provide more legal certainty in this regard under German law, the so called "Act for the Improvement of Legal Certainty concerning Clawback pursuant to the German Insolvency Code and the Creditor's Avoidance of Transfers Act" (Gesetz zur Verbesserung der Rechtssicherheit bei Anfechtungen nach der Insolvenzordnung und dem Anfechtungsgesetz) on Thursday, 16 February 2017.
The High Court yesterday held that a Chairperson of a shareholder scheme meeting may reject votes cast against a scheme of arrangement in circumstances where the shares were acquired through an artificial share-splitting exercise designed to frustrate the scheme. It is the first English case to consider this issue and while it arose in the context of a shareholder scheme, the impact is also significant for debt restructurings implemented by way of a creditor scheme of arrangement.
Background