The Ontario Court of Appeal (OCA) has closed the door on the application of equitable subordination in Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) proceedings. In U.S. Steel Canada Inc.

La Cour d’appel de l’Ontario (la « CAO ») a fermé la porte à l’application du principe de la subordination reconnue en equity dans le contexte des procédures instituées en vertu de la Loi sur les arrangements avec les créanciers des compagnies (la « LACC »). Dans l’affaire U.S. Steel Canada Inc.

Recent piece-meal amendments to the Spanish Insolvency Act 2003 seem to have cumulated into a restructuring solution that is starting to be considered predictable, quick and fair, especially when compared to the pre-amendment system. With its new restructuring approach, which shares many of the same characteristics as an English Scheme of Arrangement, Spanish companies have finally been given much-needed space and time to develop an appropriate restructuring strategy.

While the CIS nations have recently provided a multitude of sizeable restructuring cases, the region’s dominant force, Russia, has stood up reasonably well to lengthy economic decline, economic sanctions and the collapse of oil and gas prices. There are now signs however, that its complex troubles are pushing certain companies towards a restructuring or insolvency position.

In light of the UK’s cram down and director-friendly processes, in particular its scheme of arrangement model, major European economies such as France, Germany and Italy have worked hard to develop regimes that give greater emphasis to pre-insolvency alternatives. These new regimes create cram down mechanisms and encourage debtor-in-possession (DIP) financings, ultimately aiming to make restructuring plans more accessible, more efficient, and crucially more reliable; essentially more in tune with the Anglo-American approach to insolvency and restructuring.

Much like the English Scheme of Arrangement which has become a popular debt restructuring solution for international debtors, the English High Court is an attractive forum for insolvency litigation thanks to the potent combination of wide-ranging powers available to Insolvency Practitioners (IPs) under the Insolvency Act 1986, and the increasing availability of litigation funding arrangements in the London market.

Liability management exercises (“LMEs”) are increasing in the bond and capital market and are often used in relatively benign situations. They are certainly not always a precursor to a full-scale restructuring or insolvency.

Prior to the recent collapse in oil values, prices existed at over $100 a barrel for over three years. It made the economics of oil exploration, production and sale comparatively straightforward, but embedded costs into the industry.

The Blakes Aviation group, representing the underwriters led by Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse, is pleased to have assisted in the closing of the third Air Canada enhanced equipment trust certificate (EETC) transaction.

In April 2013, we assisted in the structuring and closing of Air Canada EETC 2013-1 for five new Boeing 777 300ERs, which was a historic transaction, including the following  features:

The Government of Canada recently introduced the Budget Implementation Act, 2016 No. 1 (Bill C-15) to implement certain initiatives announced in the March 2016 federal budget, including amendments to the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation Act (CDIC Act).