On 29 September 2020, lawyers from Carey Olsen obtained adecision from the Commercial Court in the British Virgin Islands (BVIs), approving the use of third party funding (TPF) by liquidators in a BVI insolvency case.
Despite the ongoing global pandemic, opportunities for stressed and distressed investments have not been as prolific as many expected. The window for entry into credits opened and closed more quickly than imagined. Nevertheless there have been several high-profile restructurings using the English scheme of arrangement. Of course, some of these were already in motion prior to the onset of the pandemic. A handful of these have sought to test the recently enacted insolvency regime, whilst others have tested more established legislative principles.
THE CHALLENGE:
After years of selling services at a loss to grow its customer base, Agera Energy—a retail electricity and natural gas provider for commercial, industrial and residential customers in 16 states—realized its business was no longer viable. The company decided to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after evaluating strategic alternatives.
As in most countries around the globe, businesses and individuals in Singapore are grappling with the financial fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although not drafted with the effects of a pandemic in mind, new insolvency and restructuring laws in Singapore are timely and should provide valuable assistance in some circumstances.
The enacted Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act (the Act) introduces three permanent reforms to the existing insolvency legislation and certain temporary measures designed to address the immediate impact of COVID-19 on UK businesses. Among other things, the Act looks to maximise the potential for struggling companies to be maintained as a going concern. As market participants and the courts get to grips with the new legislation, it is clear that there will be some impact on the special situations landscape and the business of stressed and distressed investment.
In the last installment of this 3-part series, Oscar van Rossum du Chattel, a Senior Case Intelligence Manager based in Omni Bridgeway’s Geneva office, and Jonathan Siklos, a Senior Case Intelligence Manager bas
In part 2 of this 3-part series, Omni Bridgeway turns to Nathan Landis, an Investment Manager based in our Perth office, Shane Taylor, a Business Development Director based in our Sydney office,
As the COVID-19 pandemic and related global economic slowdown continues, corporate insolvencies are on the rise —and so too is the need for capital to pursue insolvency-related claims. Litigation and arbitration claims are often high value assets of insolvent estates and can be used to generate income during difficult financial times. However, substantial economic resources are usually required to realize their full value. This is where dispute financing provides an important tool at the insolvency practitioner’s disposal.
Permanent Reforms
Moratorium: a new stand-alone moratorium to provide businesses with an initial 20-business-day stay from creditor action.