“To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time.” – Leonard Bernstein

To paraphrase, great things happen when there is a plan and a deadline.

Examinership is one of Ireland’s key rescue processes for insolvent companies. It has been used successfully in very many cases since its introduction almost 20 years ago.

Crucially, it encompasses a deadline with no flexibility.

100 days

Less than an hour after an oxygen tank exploded on Apollo 13, mission control told the crew to isolate a small tank, containing 3.9 pounds of oxygen.^[1] Days later, that tank provided the oxygen to keep the crew alive while landing back on Earth.

If they had left that tank for even another hour the oxygen in it would have been almost gone.

The appointment of a receiver by way of equitable execution has generally been considered a “remedy of last resort”[1] and, for over a hundred years, courts have expressed differing views as to when they could appoint such a receiver.

The Land and Conveyancing Law Reform (Amendment) Bill 2019 (the “Bill”) proposes to broaden the factors that the courts can consider in refusing orders for possession sought by lenders.

The Bill has its roots in the Keeping People in their Homes Bill, 2018, introduced by Kevin “Boxer” Moran T.D., as a private member’s bill. However, the Bill does not go as far as Mr Moran’s bill and, for instance, does not require disclosure of the price paid by a purchaser of the loan.

Background

Overall 2018 has produced a number of positive judgments from the perspective of lenders and insolvency practitioners.

In particular, the courts delivered many useful judgments disposing of numerous challenges to the enforceability of loans and security and, also, restricting abuse of the courts’ processes.

Contemptuous McKenzie Friends

Must the legal owner of securitised debt and related security disclose in proceedings it brings that it is a bare trustee for the beneficial owner? In addition, is that trustee obliged to join the beneficial owner as a party to those proceedings?

695 Buggy Circle, LLC, along with six subsidiaries and affiliates, has filed a petition for relief under Chapter 11 in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. All of the Debtors are affiliates of, and are seeking joint administration with, the Woodbridge Group of Companies, et al. (Lead Case No. 17-12560).

Candi Controls, Inc., an Oakland, CA-based provider of cloud-based services for energy and facilities management, has had an involuntary petition for relief under Chapter 11 filed against it in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Case No. 18-10679). The involuntary petition was filed by CGM Partners, Howard Elias and Kelly Yang Living Trust, who collectively assert $575,000 in note claims.

Bellflower Funding, LLC and Wall 123, LLC, two affiliates of the Woodbridge Group of Companies, LLC, have filed petitions for relief under Chapter 11 in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Case Nos. 18-10507 & 18-10508).

Orexigen Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the treatment of obesity based in La Jolla, CA, has filed a petition for relief under Chapter 11 in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Case No. 18-10518). According to the Petition, as of November 30, 2017, Orexigen had $265.1 million in assets and $226.4 million in liabilities.