Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary Paul Chan said last week that there were plans to introduce a bill this year into the city’s Legislative Council to put in place a long-awaited and much needed corporate rescue procedure for Hong Kong.

On January 15th, 2019, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Ohio held that the end user of an electricity forward contact was not entitled to the benefits of the safe harbor provisions under Section 556 of the Bankruptcy Code. Section 556 allows a “forward contract merchant” to terminate a forward contract post-petition based on an ipso facto clause in the contract and exempts such actions from the automatic stay.

On 18 December 2018 the English Court of Appeal held in the case of OJSC International Bank of Azerbaijan that the rule in Gibbs is still a fundamental tenet of English insolvency law and not to be sidestepped by the Cross-Border Insolvency Regulations.

Facts

The facts in summary are these:

In yet another example of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) making its company and insolvency law even more versatile, the DIFC has introduced a mechanism which will operate in a similar manner to a scheme of arrangement under English law. The law came into effect on 12 November 2018.

Key terms

In September 2018 the Dubai International Financial Centre Authority (“DIFCA”) announced that it proposes to replace its current insolvency law with a new law to update the insolvency regime in the Dubai International Financial Centre (“DIFC”) and that it has launched a consultation in relation to the same.

Why are changes proposed?

The Eleventh Circuit recently found in favor of Blue Bell Creameries, Inc. by rejecting its own earlier dicta and explicitly expanding the preference payment defense known as “new value.” This provides additional protection for companies doing business with a debtor in the 90 days prior to bankruptcy.

THE SCOOP: BRUNO’S V. BLUE BELL

In the recent decision of Michael J Lonsdale (Electrical) Limited v Bresco Electrical Services Limited (In Liquidation) [2018] EWHC 2043 (TCC), Fraser J found that parties cannot resolve their disputes by means of adjudication where a company in liquidation and its counterparty both claim a pre-liquidation entitlement to payment of money by the other.

Over the Bank holiday weekend, the UK government announced that it intends to introduce new legislation to implement certain measures (detailed below) as soon as parliamentary time permits.

On 15 January 2018, the UK’s second largest contractor filed for compulsory liquidation.

Shortly after, the Insolvency Service reported that there had been 2,668 insolvencies in the construction sector in the twelve months ended Q1 2018—more than any other sector.

In an important new English Court of Appeal judgment in LBI EHF v Raiffeisen Bank International AG [2018] EWCA Civ 719 (11 April 2018), Lord Justice Flaux approved and expanded the earlier High Court judgment of Mr Justice Knowles CBE in LBI EHF (in winding up) v Raiffeisen Zentralbank Osterreich [2017] EWHC 522 (Comm) (20 March 2017) on the correct meaning and treatment of t