The UK Government has announced wide-ranging emergency legislation in response to the Coronavirus crisis, in an attempt to reduce the burden on business and allow them to carry on trading during and after the pandemic. Some of the changes (other than the one on wrongful trading) were already intended following a consultation process that concluded in 2018 but are now being fast tracked.
On 26 June 2019 the Official Journal of the European Union published Directive (EU) 2019/1023 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on preventive restructuring frameworks, on discharge of debt and disqualifications, and on measures to increase the efficiency of procedures concerning restructuring, insolvency and discharge of debt, and amending Directive (EU) 2017/1132 (the "Directive").
Insolvency is a common issue in the construction industry. While newspaper headlines frequently focus on the top ten to 15 large contractor insolvencies, this is not reflective of how insolvency impacts the industry as a whole.
In all construction projects, there is a long tail of smaller contractors that are adversely impacted by an insolvency event that occurs further up the chain. As a result, when parts of the supply chain fall apart, the tremors can be felt by large sections of the industry.
The European Parliament's proposal of 28 March 2019 for a Directive of the European Parliament on preventive restructuring frameworks, second chance and measures to increase the efficiency of restructuring, insolvency and restructuring proceedings (hereinafter, the "Directive") aims at developing national preventive restructuring frameworks.
On May 20, 2019, the Supreme Court settled a circuit split concerning whether a debtor’s rejection of a trademark license under § 365 of the Bankruptcy Code “deprives the licensee of its rights to use the trademark.” In a decision written by Justice Kagan, the Supreme Court held that while a debtor-licensor’s rejection of a trademark license results in a pre-petition breach, it does not constitute a rescission of the contract, and thus the licensee may retain the rights granted to it under the license.
In 2018, approximately 40 companies in the oil and gas industry filed bankruptcy in the United States, including companies engaged in exploration and production, oilfield services, and midstream services.
The Pension Protection Fund has published updated general guidance on insolvency and the assessment period. This guidance is intended to help Insolvency Practitioners (IPs) to understand what they should do if a DB scheme employer suffers an insolvency event and their role and responsibilities during an assessment period.
Key points and actions for IPs
The guidance confirms a number of key points, including:
Two years ago, after a slew of bankruptcies in the energy sector triggered by a dramatic drop in commodity prices during the worst downturn for U.S. energy producers since the 1980’s, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued new guidance that proposed changes to underwriting analysis and loan risk rating determinations by national banks and federal savings associations of loans secured by oil and gas reserves (RBLs).
1 Driven by a concern that banks were not appropriately capturing risks associated with increased
The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) has published guidance on company voluntary arrangements (CVAs), setting out the issues that it expects to be considered and addressed. The new guidance will be relevant to companies who are considering a CVA which could affect a DB pension scheme, and to advisers working with those companies or with pension scheme trustees.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff’s decision that the gas gathering contracts that Sabine Oil & Gas Corporation entered into with two midstream service companies were personal obligations, and not “covenants running with the land” under Texas law, which, therefore, could be rejected under Section 365 of the Bankruptcy Code.