Last year we reported on a decision of the Scottish Court of Session which suggested that greater leniency may apply to the interpretation of performance bonds in Scotland than in England (see our earlier Law-Now here). A further decision from the Court of Session issued last month would appear to support this trend.

Fife Council v Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance plc

Administrators can be validly appointed to a company by the holder of a floating charge which was given by the company in breach of a negative pledge in favour of an existing secured creditor and even if, both at the time of the purported creation of that floating charge and on the day of the purported appointment of administrators, the company had no assets which were the subject of the floating charge.

On 27 December 2016, the Board of the Romanian Financial Supervisory Authority (“FSA”) analysed the status of the insurance and reinsurance undertaking LIG Insurance SA, ultimately, commencing bankruptcy procedures against LIG Insurance SA and withdrawing its license to carry on insurance and reinsurance activity (FSA Decision 2347/2016).

According to the FSA, on 31 October 2016 the company had: (i) negative own capital of RON 56.2 million; and (ii) a liquidity ratio of 0.44, resulting in concern over its capacity to cover its due obligations using own funds.

We saw important amendments to the Bulgarian Commerce Act (the “Act”) come to life at the very end of 2016, most notably regarding:

Notary certifications – currently in effect

On November 17, 2016, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion holding that claims for “make-whole” amounts were valid and enforceable as “redemption premiums” under New York law despite the automatic acceleration of the underlying debt upon the issuer filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. See In re Energy Future Holdings Corp., No. 16-1351 (3d Cir. Nov. 17, 2016) (the “EFH Decision”).

In an important judgment, the High Court has tackled the question of whether an impecunious claimant can defeat a defendant’s application for security for costs on the basis that it has ATE insurance in place.

In our previous two news alerts,1 we examined decisions that potentially undermine key elements of the legal structures that lenders created in response to their experiences in the United States Bankruptcy Courts during the real estate downturn of 1988 through 1992, including the involuntary restructure of their indebtedness and liens under the cram-down provisions of title 11 of the United States Code (the “Bankruptcy Codeâ€).

The Court of Session has confirmed that the administration in Scotland of a Scottish company will take priority over an Indian liquidation of the same company, regardless of where the company’s business and assets are situated. The Court has also confirmed that the validity and enforceability outside the UK of a floating charge is irrelevant to the validity of an administrator’s appointment in Scotland under that floating charge.

September 2016 CMS_LawTax_Negative_28-100.eps Enforcing Security over Real Estate and Shares across Europe 2 | Enforcing Security over Real Estate and Shares across Europe 3 Introduction 4 Albania 5 Austria 6 Belgium 7 Bulgaria 8 Czech Republic 9 England and Wales 10 France 11 Germany 12 Hungary 13 Italy 14 Luxembourg 15 Montenegro 16 Netherlands 17 Poland 18 Portugal 19 Romania 20 Russia 21 Scotland 22 Serbia 23 Slovakia 24 Slovenia 25 Spain 26 Turkey 27 Ukraine 28 Contacts Contents 19 practice and sector groups working across offices Ranked 2nd most global law firm in the Am Law 2015 Glob

As a service to energy industry participants, the lawyers of the Oilfield Services and Bankruptcy Practices at Haynes and Boone, LLP have been tracking and reporting industry developments in oilfield service restructurings. Our research includes details on 100 bankruptcies filed since the beginning of 2015, including secured and unsecured debt totals for each case. The total amount of aggregate debt administered in oilfield services bankruptcy cases in 2015- 2016 is more than $14 billion and the average debt of these cases exceeds $144 million.