In an important Court of Appeal (CoA) decision handed down on 1 March 2017, the CoA has clarified the position for banks, lenders and insolvency practitioners regarding realisation of assets after certificates of completion have been issued in individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued its ruling in Marblegate Asset Management, LLC v. Education Management Corp. that provided much needed clarity to creditors and issuers involved in out-of-court restructurings affecting noteholders. The issue for the court was whether Education Management Corp. (“EDMC”) violated the Trust Indenture Act (the “TIA”) when it implemented a restructuring that impaired the rights of one of its unsecured noteholders, Marblegate Asset Management, LLC (the “Noteholder”).
ITALY
BANCA MONTE DEI PASCHI DI SIENA SpA
Monte dei Paschi di Siena (“Monte Paschi”) founded in 1472 and said to be the oldest bank in the world is, at the time of publication, in a race against the clock to raise EUR 5 billion in capital by the end of December to avoid either a state bail-out or potentially being wound down by the European Central Bank (“ECB”).
On 1 December 2016, the current president and Socialist leader, Francois Hollande, decided not to seek a second term as President of France. Mr. Hollande is the first French President to decide not to run for a second term.
GENERAL
The Companies (Winding Up and Miscellaneous Provisions) (Amendment) Ordinance 2016 Gazetted
The Companies (Winding Up and Miscellaneous Provisions) (Amendment) Ordinance 2016 (Amendment Ordinance) was gazetted on 3 June 2016. The Amendment Ordinance aims to improve and modernize Hong Kong’s corporate winding-up regime. The Amendment Ordinance will come into effect on a appropriate date to be published in the Gazette.
Major provisions of the Amendment Ordinance include:
In the week that Leicester City overcame odds of 5000/1 to be crowned Premier League champions, the insurance market was (almost) as astounded at the news that the long-awaited Third Parties (Rights Against Insurers) Act 2010, which received Royal Assent on 25 March 2010, will be coming into force on 1 August 2016.
Recent developments in landlord and tenant law concerning the position of the outgoing tenant’s guarantor on the assignment of the lease can only be described as ‘bonkers’. A few years ago, the Good Harvest and House of Fraser cases confirmed that a parent company could not guarantee both of its subsidiaries on an intra-group assignment. Last month, in the EMI case, the High Court has confirmed that the assignment of a lease to the tenant’s guarantor is similarly void.
Happy anniversary
On March 11, 2016, Judge Christopher Sontchi of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware issued an opinion in the Energy Future Holdings bankruptcy that resolved an intercreditor dispute over $90 million in proceeds to be distributed under the plan of reorganization.
Draft regulations were laid before Parliament on 25 February 2016 to amend the Third Parties (Rights Against Insurers) Act 2010
The Act, when it comes into force, will make it more straightforward for claimants to cut through directly to insurers when policyholders become insolvent. It has been six years since the Act was passed. These proposed amendments are another step on what has been a slow road towards bringing the Act into force.