Kwasi Kwarteng, UK Business and Energy Secretary is reported to have said on 20 September that “My task is to ensure that any energy supplier failures cause the least amount of disruption to consumers”.
Wholesale day-ahead gas prices in the UK are reported to have jumped some 9% on 20 September alone. The rise is as a result of a number of factors including increased demand in Asia, lower supplies of gas from Russia and increase in demand as countries emerge from lockdown restrictions and economies start to pick up once more.
With the Act on the Temporary Suspension of the Insolvency Filing Obligation Due to Heavy Rainfall and Floods in July 2021 (Gesetz zur vorübergehenden Aussetzung der Insolvenzantragspflicht wegen Starkregenfällen und Hochwassern im Juli 2021), which is part of the Reconstruction Assistance Act 2021 (Aufbauhilfegesetzes 2021), the German Federal Parliament and the German Federal Council have decided to suspend the obligation to file for insolvency retroactively as of 10 July 2021.
On September 10, 2021, Agspring Mississippi Region LLC, along with four affiliates, filed a petition under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Lead Case No. 21-11238). Agspring Mississippi Region and its affiliates are each subsidiaries of non-debtor Agspring LLC, an agriculture supply chain services company.
On September 8, 2021, A.B.C. Carpet Co., Inc., dba ABC Carpet & Home, along with two affiliates, filed a petition under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (Lead Case No. 21-11591). ABC Carpet & Home is a New York City-based luxury furniture retailer. The company estimates $10 to $50 million in assets and $50 to $100 million in liabilities.
On August 31, 2021, Sequential Brands Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SQBG), together with its wholly-owned subsidiaries that own, manage and license a large-scale and diversified portfolio of consumer brands across multiple industries, filed a petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Case No. 21-11194). The company reports $442.8 million in assets and $435.1 million in liabilities.
On August 30, 2021, BL Santa Fe, LLC, along with one affiliated debtor doing business as Bishops Lodge, an Auberge Resorts Collection luxury hotel and resort located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, filed a petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Case No. 21-11190). The company reports $50 to $100 million in both assets and liabilities.
In its August 5th, 2021 VeroBlue Farms decision,[1] the Eighth Circuit lent its voice to a growing body of criticism of the equitable mootness doctrine contending that its use to bar challenges to confirmed reorganization plans should be circumscribed.
On August 17, 2021, Basic Energy Services, L.P., along with several affiliates that provide operational support for oil and gas wells located in several US states, filed a petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas (Case No. 21-90001). The company reports $100 to 500 million in assets and $500 million to $1 billion in liabilities.
On August 15, 2021, Aluminum Shapes LLC, a Delair, New Jersey-based aluminum fabricator and processing company, filed a petition under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey (Case No. 21-16520). The company estimates $10 to $50 million in assets and liabilities.
In a decision rendered on May 25, 2021, in Special Appeal No. 1.851.692, the Fourth Panel of the Brazilian Superior Court of Justice (“STJ”) decided that the holder of a credit who is voluntarily excluded from the reorganization plan has the prerogative of deciding whether to present a proof of claim so that its credit is subject to the judicial reorganization plan or to file for individual execution after the judicial reorganization proceeding ends.