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On Jan. 19, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated a bankruptcy court decision awarding Ultra Petroleum Corp. noteholders $201 million in make-whole payments and $186 million in post-petition interest. Under the note agreement, upon a bankruptcy filing, the issuer is obligated for a make-whole amount equal to the discounted value of the remaining scheduled payments (including principal and interest that would be due after prepayment) less the principal amount of the notes.

What is a Statutory Demand?

A Statutory Demand is a formal 21-day demand for payment issued by a creditor to a debtor.

When can a Statutory Demand be issued?

You can issue a Statutory Demand if your debt is owed from a limited company or an LLP and is a liquidated sum of more than £750 or when a creditor is owed a debt from an individual, a sole trader or a partnership as long as the debt is for a liquidated sum of more than £5000 and is unsecured.

In 2018 the Insolvency Service recorded that Company insolvencies were at their highest level since 2014, with a slight increase of 0.7% on 2017. Individual insolvencies were also at their highest level since 2011 with an increase of 16.2% on2017. There was a 19.9% increase on Individual Voluntary Arrangements (“IVAs”) which is the highest level ever recorded. With this in mind, businesses need to focus on tight cash flow across all areas and understand the importance of putting a credit policy in place.

The Bottom Line

In one of the first applications of the Supreme Court’s ruling on the scope of section 546(e) in Merit Management, Delaware Bankruptcy Court Judge Carey found that section 546(e)’s safe harbor did not apply to fraudulent transfers between two parties that were not financial institutions, even if the transaction passed through financial intermediaries.

What Happened

Goodbye 2018 and hello 2019! It is that time of year to take stock and review your cash flow for 2019.

The Court of Appeal has issued a welcome clarification of rules regulating the payment of dividends to shareholders in Global Corporate Ltd v Hale [2018] EWCA Civ 2618.

Facts

The case was appealed from the ruling of Judge Matthews in the High Court [2017] EWHC 2277 (Ch). At issue were several payments made by Powerstation UK Limited (the “Company”) to Mr Hale, who was a director and shareholder of the Company at the relevant times.

The Bottom Line

In In re ENNIA Caribe Holding N.V., 18-12908 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. Dec. 20, 2018), a bankruptcy court in the Southern District of New York recognized a foreign insurance company’s rehabilitation proceeding in Curaçao as a “foreign main proceeding,” pursuant to Chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code, over objections from the insurance company’s nondebtor parent company. In doing so, the court examined, among other things, what is required for a “collective proceeding” in a foreign insolvency.

What Happened