The Companies Court has set out the requirements necessary to serve out of the jurisdiction under the Practice Direction on Insolvency Proceedings.
In a March 29, 2016 decision,1 the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (the "Court of Appeals") held that creditors are preempted from asserting state law constructive fraudulent conveyance claims by virtue of the Bankruptcy Code's "safe harbors" that, among other things, exempt transfers made in connection with a contract for the purchase, sale or loan of a security (here, in the context of a leveraged buyout ("LBO")), from being clawed back into the bankruptcy estate for distribution to creditors.
Over a third of South West pubs (33%) and restaurants (38.4%) are at heightened risk of insolvency in the next 12 months, according to research by R3, the insolvency trade body.
However, agricultural businesses in the South West have demonstrated increased strength since this time last year with 17% of business at risk, representing a 9.6% decrease in the proportion since February 2015.
Alan Bennett, Chair of R3 in the South West and Partner at Ashfords LLP, comments:
On January 4, 2016, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (the “Bankruptcy Court”) deviated from SDNY precedent and held that, despite the absence of clear Congressional intent, the avoidance powers provided for under Section 548 of the Bankruptcy Code can be applied extraterritorially. As a result, a fraudulent transfer of property of a debtor’s estate that occurs outside of the United States can be recovered under Section 550 of the Bankruptcy Code.
Simona Kornhaas v Thomas Dithmar (Case C-594/14)
The ECJ have ruled that a director of an English company that had entered into insolvency proceedings in Germany is liable to reimburse the company under German law for payments made after the company became insolvent.
Alan Bennett, South West chair of insolvency trade body R3 and Partner at Ashfords LLP, advises people on how to identify, assess and tackle money issues which may have arisen over the Christmas period, so they can avoid a debt hangover in 2016.
Recent research by R3 found that 31% of people in the South West are worried about their current level of debt. Credit card repayments are the main cause of concern for those with debt worries, followed by an overdraft and mortgage repayments.
On December 14, 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that claims arising from securities of a debtor’s affiliate must be subordinated to all claims or interests senior or equal to claims of the same type as the underlying securities in the bankruptcy proceeding.
Nearly a third (30%) of South West retailers are at heightened risk of insolvency in the next 12 months, according to research by R3, the insolvency trade body. This is an increase of 5.5 percentage points on the same time last year.
These figures are higher than the cross-sector percentage of businesses in the South West at higher than normal risk (26.5%). However, it is below the UK average insolvency risk for the retail sector (30.8%).
Alan Bennett, Chair of R3 in the South West and Partner at Ashfords LLP, comments:
Edgeworth Capital Luxembourg Sarl (2) Aabar Block Sarl V Glenn Maud [2015] EWHC 3464 (Comm)
The High Court in England has ruled on whether Spanish Law has the effect of extinguishing third party guarantees when the beneficiary of the guaranteed liabilities enters into insolvency proceedings in Spain.