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Budding Woes: Navigating the Weedy Waters of Cannabis Companies in Financial Distress

As the cannabis industry matures, there will be winners and losers. Losers lack access to the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Marijuana related assets cannot be sold free and clear of liens and encumbrances via the tried and true bankruptcy section 363 sale, which leaves the loser’s creditors without the best tool to maximize the value of the loser’s assets, and deprives acquirers of a federal court order conveying assets. What’s the state of play, and what’s the alternative for the losers, their creditors, and the companies that would acquire them?

STATE OF PLAY

USA, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Seyfarth Shaw LLP, Cannabis, Insolvency, Uniform Commercial Code (USA)
Silicon Valley Bank Auction and Signature Bank Sale

Bank Asset Auction: Bids for Silicon Valley Bridge Bank, N.A. (“SVB”) and its subsidiary Silicon Valley Private Bank, together or separately, in whole or in part, are due by Wednesday, March 22, 2023 at 8 p.m. and Friday, March 24, 2023 at 8 p.m. We’ve previously reported that SVB is open for operations for a minimum of ninety days until it is sold or liquidated.

USA, Banking, Insolvency & Restructuring, Seyfarth Shaw LLP, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (USA), Silicon Valley Bank
Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank

The FDIC has statutory obligations to maximize the net present value return from the sale or disposition of the assets entrusted to it as receiver, and to minimize the amount of any loss realized.[1] Today we examine the FDIC’s efforts to fulfill its mandate through the transfer of assets to bridge-banks, Silicon Valley Bank, N.A. (“SVB”) and Signature Bank, N.A. (“SB”).

USA, Banking, Insolvency & Restructuring, Seyfarth Shaw LLP, Private equity, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (USA), US Department of the Treasury, Silicon Valley Bank
German share pledge enforcement: German Federal Supreme Court finally provides clarification on who is entitled to enforce

Since the beginning of the 21st century and the first big wave of security enforcements in Germany, who holds the entitlement to enforce a share pledge has caused countless disputes between pledgees and insolvency administrators. This issue has now been resolved by a recently released judgment of the German Federal Supreme Court of 27 Oct 2022 (case no.: IX ZR 145/21), which has now held that pledged shares as well as pledges over certain other non-movable rights such as trademarks or patents can be enforced by the pledgee (only) and not by the administrator.

Germany, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP
German share pledge enforcement: German Federal Supreme Court finally provides clarification on who is entitled to enforce

Since the beginning of the 21st century and the first big wave of security enforcements in Germany, who holds the entitlement to enforce a share pledge between pledgees and insolvency administrators has caused countless disputes. This issue has now been resolved by a recently released judgment of the German Federal Supreme Court of 27 Oct 2022 (case no.: IX ZR 145/21), which has now held that pledged shares as well as pledges over certain other non-movable rights such as trademarks or patents can be enforced by the pledgee (only) and not by the administrator.

Germany, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP
Winter Wears On: Celsius Court Rules That Certain Customer Deposits are Property of the Bankruptcy Estate

Introduction

USA, Banking, Insolvency & Restructuring, IT & Data Protection, Real Estate, Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP, Cryptocurrency, FTX
How Many Connections are Too Many? Bankruptcy Court Finds Multiple Attenuated Connections Not Enough to Warrant Disqualification of Debtors’ Professional

Introduction

USA, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP, United States bankruptcy court
Ultra IV: Make-Wholes, Never Say Never Again

Executive Summary

USA, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP, Insolvency, U.S. Court of Appeals
SEQUANA: UK Supreme Court Explanation of the “Creditor Duty”

Introduction

Today, the UK Supreme Court considered for the first time the existence, content and engagement of the so-called “creditor duty”: the alleged duty of a company’s directors to consider, or to act in accordance with, the interests of the company’s creditors when the company becomes insolvent, or when it approaches, or is at real risk of, insolvency.

United Kingdom, Company & Commercial, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP, Insolvency, UK Supreme Court
A Tale of Fraud and Overzealousness: How the Judicial Shrinkage of “Initial Transferee” Saved an Innocent Immigrant From a Corrupt Car Dealer and a Troublesome Trustee

What happens when a shady businessman transfers $1 million from one floundering car dealership to another via the bank account of an innocent immigrant? Will the first dealership’s future chapter 7 trustee be allowed to recover from the naïve newcomer as the “initial transferee” of a fraudulent transfer as per the strict letter of the law? Or will our brave courts of equity exercise their powers to prevent a most grave injustice?

USA, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP