On May 1, 2016, BIND Therapeutics, Inc., and affiliated companies (“Debtors” or “BIND”) voluntarily filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code.

The filing comes days after the Cambridge, Mass., company received a notice of default from lender Hercules Technology III LP, which demanded immediate payment of the $14.5 million the lender says it is owed under the loan. The Company is backed by Koch Industry Inc.’s David Koch.

– But they weren’t as oppressive as my subject line may imply.

In a 13 page decision, released April 22, 2016, Judge Gross of the Delaware Bankruptcy Court granted a motion to dismiss an adversary proceeding and sanctioned the Plaintiff – disallowing any further litigation against the defendants in the Bankruptcy Court. Judge Gross’ opinion is available here (the “Opinion”).

Recently in the Abengoa SA bankruptcy proceeding (click here to review prior post), the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware entered an order permitting Debtors to reject certain nonresidential real property leases (the “Rejection Order”).

Article 37 of the Act on Continuity of Enterprises states that "claims against the debtor related to services provided by its co-contractor during a judicial reorganization are to be qualified as privileged claims in a subsequent bankruptcy". Both the doctrine and case law are divided as to how this article should be interpreted, in particular whether or not only a direct co-contractor of the debtor can invoke the privileged nature of its claim. This discussion is particularly relevant with regard to claims for advance business tax, VAT claims and other tax debts. 

On 20 May 2015, the European Parliament adopted a new version (the "Revised Regulation") of Regulation 1346/2000 on insolvency proceedings (the "Original Regulation").

According to the statement of the Council's reasons, the Revised Regulation is aimed at making cross-border insolvency proceedings more effective with a view to ensuring the smooth functioning of the internal market and its resilience in economic crises.

En date du 20 mai 2015, le Parlement Européen a adopté une nouvelle mouture (le Règlement Révisé) du Règlement 1346/2000 relatif aux procédures d’insolvabilité (le Règlement Original).

Aux termes de l’exposé des motifs du Conseil, l’objectif du Règlement Révisé était de rendre les procédures d’insolvabilité transfrontières plus efficaces avec l’intention plus large d’assurer le bon fonctionnement du marché intérieur et sa résilience lors des crises économiques.

Principle

In order to secure the protection of judicial reorganization, the debtor needs to attach to the petition for judicial reorganization a certain number of documents provided for in article 17 § 2 of the Law on the continuity of enterprises (LCE). If these documents are not attached to the petition, the LCE provides that the petition shall be deemed inadmissible.

The liquidation in one single act is allowed in Belgium since 2012. The following formalities are strictly required: 

Wanneer de rechtbank de procedure van gerechtelijke reorganisatie met het oog op de overdracht onder gerechtelijk gezag voor een onderneming in moeilijkheden voor geopend verklaart, verleent zij hierbij een bepaalde periode van opschorting waarbinnen de overdracht gerealiseerd dient te worden. 

Pour rappel, en cas d’approbation d’un plan de réorganisation judiciaire par la majorité des créanciers, il appartient au Tribunal de commerce d’homologuer le plan approuvé pour autant qu’il ne soit pas contraire à l’ordre public. 

Selon l’article 49, § 1 de la loi du 31 janvier 2009 relative à la continuité des entreprises, le plan de réorganisation peut prévoir le règlement différencié de certaines catégories de créances, notamment en fonction de leur ampleur ou de leur nature.