(Ordonnance no. 2014-326) was published in the French official journal on 14 March 2014. The new rules apply to all proceedings that open on or after 1 July 2014 but will have an influence on current loan negotiations. It redresses the checks and balances in place by creating a double-edged sword over the heads of shareholders by reallocating rights to lenders and by enhancing lender led restructurings.
A former director of Custom House Capital Limited (CHC) was recently found by the High Court to have fraudulently misrepresented to an investor that her €145,000 investment in the company was “safe” a year before CHC's collapse.
In March 2010 Ms Tressan Scott entered into a Subordinated Loan Agreement with CHC pursuant to which she loaned the sum of €145,000 to CHC. At the time the agreement was signed, Ms Scott was recovering from treatment for Lymphoma.
On 22 January 2014 the High Court ordered the winding up of a property company, Fuerta Limited, on the unusual ground that it was just and equitable to do so. Resort to this ground for winding up is usually reserved for the most intractable of situations and it is thought to be the first time the Court has done so on foot of a creditor petition.
On 24 December 2013 the Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2013 was signed into law by the President. The purpose of the legislation is to expedite a number of amendments to existing legislation pending the enactment of the Companies Bill.
Circuit Court Examinership
On January 14, 2014, Judge Robert E. Gerber of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York in Weisfelner v. Fund 1. (In re Lyondell Chemical Co.), Adv. Proc. No. 10-4609 (REG), 2014 WL 118036 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. Jan.
In Simon v. FIA Card Services, N.A.,[1] the U.S.
124 members of the Element Six pension scheme are suing the trustees of the scheme in the Commercial Court for alleged breach of duty arising out of the decision to close the scheme with a significant deficit. The members claim that the trustees breached their duty to the members by failing to demand that the employer fully fund the deficit in the scheme before wind up. A number of general issues relating to the obligations of trustees were raised during the 3-week hearing of the case.
Background
Borrowers are increasingly seeking to challenge or frustrate the validity of an appointment of a receiver on technical grounds. While each case will be determined on its own merits and facts, a recent decision of the High Court is illustrative of the Court’s attitude towards some such arguments.
On December 5, 2013, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Michigan released its 143 page decision upholding the City of Detroit’s eligibility to be a debtor under chapter 9 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. In re City of Detroit, Michigan, Case No. 13-53846 (Bankr. E.D. Mich. Dec.