The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council has decisively redrawn the boundaries between arbitration agreements and insolvency proceedings in the case of Sian Participation Corp (In Liquidation) v Halimeda International Ltd.[1]

Insolvenzanträge von namhaften Projektentwicklern und Immobiliengesellschaften stellen die betroffenen Unternehmen und ihre Gläubiger vor große Herausforderungen und setzen die gesamte Immobilienbranche unter Druck. Gleichzeitig gewinnen alternative Restrukturierungsmethoden, die außerhalb oder bereits im Vorfeld eines formalen Insolvenzverfahrens stattfinden, zunehmend an Bedeutung.

Vor diesem Hintergrund fällt auch vermehrt das Stichwort “StaRUG“, wenn es um die Restrukturierung von immobilienhaltenden Gesellschaften geht.

In einer aktuellen Entscheidung hat das BAG festgestellt, dass die Vermutungswirkung des § 125 Abs. 1 Nr. 1 InsO auch dann eingreift, wenn bis zu einem anvisierten Stilllegungszeitpunkt noch viel Zeit vergeht und für ein Unternehmen in der Zwischenzeit – anders als prognostiziert – doch ein Erwerber gefunden wird (BAG, Urteil vom 17. August 2023 – 6 AZR 56/23, PM).

The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed a district court’s ruling that there was no actionable infringement where an uncompleted building sold under the authority of a bankruptcy court was later completed. Cornice & Rose International, LLC v. Four Keys, LLC et al., Case No. 22-1976 (8th Cir. Aug. 11, 2023) (Loken, Shepard, Kelly, JJ.) (per curiam). The Court explained that the architectural copyright claims were precluded by the bankruptcy court’s order approving the sale.

On May 30, 2023, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit released its long-awaited opinion addressing Purdue Pharma’s confirmed chapter 11 bankruptcy plan. Although the appeal challenged more than one aspect of the plan, the Court’s decision was highly anticipated for its discussion of one topic in particular: nonconsensual third-party releases.

In Depth

THIRD-PARTY RELEASES

Introduction

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice’s decision in Carillion Canada Inc. clarifies how the principles in Montréal (City) v. Deloitte Restructuring Inc. (Montréal) should be applied to contingent obligations that are only quantified after the debtor company files for creditor protection.

In the receivership proceedings of Distinct Infrastructure Group Inc.

On July 13, 2022, the Court of Appeal for Ontario allowed an appeal from the Order of a bankruptcy judge in Sirius Concrete Inc. (Re), 2022 ONCA 524 (Sirius), which ruled that certain funds paid by a trade creditor formed part of the bankrupt’s estate. The issue on appeal was whether a constructive trust should be imposed over certain funds due to a claim of unjust enrichment arising from alleged fraudulent misrepresentations made by the bankrupt on the eve of its bankruptcy filing.

What this means for the shareholders of a business facing insolvency