On July 8, 2021, Pipeline Foods, LLC, along with several affiliates, which operate a Minnesota-based organic food supply chain company, filed a petition under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Case No. 21-11002). The company estimates $100 to $500 million in assets and liabilities.
On 28 June 2021, the English High Court handed down a judgment declining to sanction a restructuring plan proposed by Hurricane Energy PLC, which sought to cram down the dissenting class of shareholders and hand over the control of the company to its bondholders with a debt-for-equity swap diluting the shareholders down to 5% of their existing shareholding. This is the first time that the English court has declined to sanction a restructuring plan (since their introduction almost a year ago in June 2020), and only the fourth time that the cross-class cram down mechanism has been used.
Late on July 6, 2021, MatlinPatterson Global Opportunities Partners II L.P., along with several 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. 21-11255).
On July 2, 2021, Something Sweet, Inc., a New Haven, Connecticut-based bakery that “provides high quality pies and cakes to the largest retailers in the country,” filed a petition under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Case No. 21-10993). The company estimates $10 to $50 million in assets and liabilities.
On June 25, 2021, Inversiones CG Financial Chile Dos S.P.A. and certain affiliates, which manage investments in mainly Chilean financial institutions, filed a petition under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Case No. 21-10968). The company estimates $500 million to $1 billion in assets and $1 billion to $10 billion in liabilities.
The application of sovereign immunity principles in bankruptcy cases has vexed the courts for decades. The U.S. Supreme Court’s opinions on the matter have not helped much. Although they have addressed the issue in specific contexts, they have not established clear guidelines that the lower courts may apply more generally. The Third Circuit took a crack at clarifying this muddy but important area of the law in the case of Venoco LLC (with its affiliated debtors, the “Debtors”).
Background
On June 20, 2021, CP Holdings LLC and Pacrim U.S. LLC, holding companies for a portfolio of non-debtor subsidiaries which own and operate assisted living and memory care residences and offer third-party management services in the senior care space, filed a petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Case No. 21-10950).
On June 13, 2021, Washington Prime Group Inc. and several affiliates, which administer a REIT and are headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, filed petitions under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas (Lead Case No. 21-31948).
On June 9, 2021, East Greenwich, R.I.-based jewelry company Alex and Ani, LLC filed a petition under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware along with several affiliates. The lowest filed case number is 21-10917 (A and A Shareholding, Co., LLC). The company estimates $100 million to $500 million in both assets and liabilities.
On June 7, 2021, Zuca Properties LLC of Geneva Switzerland, the owner of two penthouse condominium units located at 470 Broome Street in New York’s Soho neighborhood, filed a petition under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (Case No. 21-11082). The company estimates $10 million to $50 million in assets and $50 million to $100 million in liabilities.