Like many other strategically important sectors, there has long been a bespoke insolvency regime for the water sector. New legislation has been brought into effect in early 2024 as a first step to bringing the special administration regime for water (the SAR) up to date with the general UK insolvency regime.

2023 marked the highest annual number of corporate insolvencies since 1993, according to figures released by The Insolvency Service this week. While creditors’ voluntary liquidations remained by far the most commonly used process, 2023 saw increases across all processes tracked by the Insolvency Service.

Like many other strategically important sectors, there has long been a bespoke insolvency regime for the water sector. New legislation has been brought into effect in January 2024 as a first step to bringing the special administration regime for water (the SAR) up to date with the general UK insolvency regime.

Last week HM Treasury published its much anticipated consultation paper on introducing a dedicated Insurer Resolution Regime (IRR) in the UK, which would implement key international standards.

Cryptoassets continue to be in the spotlight with prices no longer heading ‘to the moon’, the recent high-profile failure of an algorithmic stablecoin and the difficulties experienced by various service providers. This all forms the backdrop to the UK Government’s publication of proposals with respect to managing the failure of systemic digital settlement asset firms.

Overview

The High Court (Mr Justice Trower) today gave its judgment sanctioning Amigo’s ‘New Business Scheme’. A team of us at Freshfields were pleased to help Amigo with this. Here we outline the technical innovations that, despite significant legal and regulatory uncertainty, delivered the best available outcome for Amigo’s redress creditors and the prospect of Amigo lending again for the benefit of those creditors and future customers. We also identify two approaches that addressed the practical challenge of implementing a complex legal process with retail creditors.

A recent England and Wales High Court decision demonstrates the increasingly litigious nature of Court-supervised restructuring processes. It also addresses the Court’s approach to whether foreign recognition risks represent a ‘blot’ on a proposed scheme of arrangement so that the Court should decline sanction ('the recognition/blot question').

The financial loss and the uncertainty caused by the pandemic continues to affect business globally, and an increase in corporate insolvency is widely anticipated. Arbitration is an effective dispute resolution mechanism, but a counterparty entering insolvency proceedings can be disruptive. We recently wrote about insolvency being one of the key trends in international arbitration in 2021.

Summary

A new law which came into force on 8 August 2015 now permits a French court to enforce debt-for-equity swaps. Where the debtor company is in judicial reorganisation proceedings (redressement judiciaire) and if certain conditions are met, the court can either:

Summary

Eastman Kodak Corporation (Kodak US), the US parent of the Kodak group, filed for chapter 11 protection in the US on 19 January 2012. It successfully emerged from bankruptcy on 3 September 2013 as a new restructured technology company focused on imaging for businesses. Many other Kodak companies throughout the world were able to avoid following in their parent’s footsteps and were maintained as going concern businesses while the US bankruptcy process was ongoing.