In AnAn Group (Singapore) Pte Ltd v VTB Bank (Public Joint Stock Company) [2020] SGCA 33, Justice Steven Chong, delivering the judgment of the Court, (1) overturned the decision of the High Court which allowed a creditor (VTB Bank) to proceed with its winding up petition against a debtor (AnAn), and (2) upheld the arbitration agreement pursuant to which the dispute underlying the debt should first be resolved.
The High Court has ruled that directors breached their duties by taking up the company’s business opportunity for their own benefit, even if the company was unable to take up that opportunity by reason of its financial position: Davies v Ford & Ors [2020] EWHC 686.
New legislation suspends contractual obligations for the next six months with related disputes subject to a separate dispute resolution system.
On 7 April 2020, the Singapore Parliament passed the COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Act (the Act) offering temporary relief to businesses and individuals who are unable to fulfil their contractual obligations because of COVID-19 and providing temporary amendments to bankruptcy and insolvency laws. The Act went into effect immediately.
�عمل مكتب سلمان بن متعب السديري للمحاماة"مؤسسة فردية" بالتعاون مع ليثم أند واتكن� �� المملكة العر�ية السعودية. و�عمل ليثم أند واتكن� �� جميع أنحاء العالم كشراكة ذات مسؤولية محدودةمنظمة بموجب قوان�ن ولاية ديلاو�ر (بالولايات المتحدة الأمر�كية) بالتعاون مع شر�ات تضامن تا�عة ذات مسؤولية محدودة تقدم خدما��ا �� فر�سا وهونج �ونج وإيطاليا وسنغافورة والمملكة المتحدة، وتقدم الشركة خدما��ا كشركة تضامن تا�عة �� اليابان. كما �عمل الشركة �� �ور�ا ا�جنو�ية كشركة أجنبية للاستشارات النظامية. حقوق النشر لعام ٢٠٢٠ محفوظة لصا�ح ليثم أند واتكن�. جميع ا�حقوق محفوظة.
Debtors and creditors can use several options under the Insolvency Law in Saudi Arabia to address COVID-19-related difficultie
In Joint Provisional Liquidators of Moody Technology Holdings Ltd [2020] HKCFI 416, the Hong Kong Court of First Instance (the “Hong KongCourt”) granted a recognition order to foreign provisional liquidators who were appointed on a soft-touch basis, to explore and facilitate the restructuring of a company. The order was made despite soft-touch provisional liquidation being per se impermissible in Hong Kong.
Background
In Spain individuals and entities have an obligation to file for insolvency if they are unable to regularly meet their obligations within two months of the position of insolvency coming to light. Breach of that obligation could lead to civil (and even criminal) liability.
The legal obligation imposed by the Spanish Insolvency Law 22/2003, of 9 July (the “Spanish Insolvency Law”), has been modified by Royal Decree-law 8/2020 (the “RDL”), of 17 March, on extraordinary measures to tackle the economic and social impact of COVID-19.
Proposed changes to UK insolvency laws aim to support companies under pressure due to COVID-19.
On 28 March 2020, the UK government announced a number of reforms to UK insolvency laws:
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (“BEIS”) over the weekend announced a number of proposed changes to UK insolvency law in response to the COVID-19 crisis.
The principle in ex parte James, under which the Court will not permit its officers (such as a liquidator) to act in a way which, although lawful, does not accord with the standards of right-thinking people, has recently been clarified by the English Court of Appeal in Lehman Brothers Australia Limited (in liquidation) v Edward John Macnamara & others (the joint administrators of Lehman Brothers International (Europe) (in administration)) [2020] EWCA Civ 321