On April 1, 2012 Drydocks World LLC (DDW) and its subsidiary Drydocks World — Dubai LLC (DDW Dubai), a Dubai- and Asia-based ship building and repair company that is wholly owned by Dubai World, became the first company to commence a reorganization proceeding in the Special Tribunal¹ (the Tribunal) created by Dubai Decree No. 57 for 2009 (Decree 57) and avail itself of Decree 57’s integrated legal framework.

For landlords, a tenant in administration is just about your worst nightmare. A moratorium prevents you from suing for outstanding arrears or forfeiting the lease and you may be left with an empty unit generating no income.  

Now it seems if administrators are using your premises, the rent might not even be paid as an expense simply because of when they were appointed. So what has happened?

The recent news that the holding company of Currie & Brown was in administration at the time of its acquisition by Middle East-based consultant Dar Group raises fresh concerns that there may be more victims of this period of economic instability.

Between 2008 and 2010, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals (the Second Circuit) revisited the circumstances under which it would approve third-party non-debtor releases in Chapter 11 plans of reorganization. Traditionally, the Second Circuit found such releases to be appropriate if the bankruptcy case had certain special — “unique” — circumstances.1 InIn re Johns-Manville Corp., 517 F.3d 52 (2d. Cir.

The Supreme Court decides how client moneys are to be allocated in the Lehman estate, which has far-reaching implications for distributions in other financial collapses.

The Supreme Court has recently handed down a decision in a contentious and difficult application in the Lehman administration, a decision which fundamentally affects the allocation of client moneys in the Lehman estate.

Senior Transeastern Lenders v. Official Comm. Of Unsecured Creditors of TOUSA, Inc. (In re TOUSA, Inc.), 2012 US App. LEXIS 9796 (11th Cir. May 15, 2012)

English schemes of arrangement under the Companies Act 2006 (Schemes) have been increasingly used by non-English companies as a powerful tool to restructure their financial indebtedness. Recent prominent examples of German companies that have utilized Schemes to cramdown non-consenting or “holdout” creditors in order to restructure the company’s balance sheet include TeleColumbus, Rodenstock and Primacom.

There are several reasons for this trend:

“In chapter 11, a creditor should be able to assert the full amount of any guarantee claim against the debtor without reducing the claim for recoveries against another obligor.”

“Whether the Nortel Senior Notes will be entitled to post-petition interest, and at what rate, in the chapter 11 cases are open questions that may hinge, among other things, on proving solvency of the Nortel chapter 11 debtors.”

The Insolvency Service has recently published a helpful guide about the restrictions on the re-use of a name previously used by a company, which has gone into liquidation. Directors of companies in insolvent liquidation need to take special care, as the restriction applies to them personally and contravention is a criminal offence. The restriction lasts for five years from the date of liquidation and, save in limited circumstances, a director is not allowed to be a director of or take part in the promotion, formation or management of a limited company that uses a "prohibited name".

We would like to introduce you to a great new feature of the revised German Insolvency Act which makes debt-equity-swaps in Germany (e.g., as part of loan-to-own transactions) a lot more attractive. It eliminates troubles caused by change-of-control provisions in agreements between an insolvent company and third parties.

Introduction: Debt-Equity- Swaps Now Possible Under German Insolvency Act