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Singapore is getting serious about becoming the region’s international insolvency hub. In this inaugural podcast from the International Insolvency Institute, Hon. Kevin Carey (Ret.) of Hogan Lovells discusses Hon. Christopher S. Sontchi‘s forthcoming move from Delaware bankruptcy judge to International Judge of the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC).

Foreign companies seeking to protect their overseas assets from their creditors have often turned to the United States for immediate relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. Establishing jurisdiction in the US for purposes of a bankruptcy filing has proved easy – the establishment of a nominal professional fees retainer with a local law firm on the eve of a bankruptcy filing will suffice.

Earlier this year, Mexican airline, Grupo Aeromexico, S.A.B. de C.V. (together with its affiliates, the “Debtors”) announced that their creditor body had overwhelmingly voted to approve their proposed Chapter 11 restructuring plan (the “Plan”) save for one class of unsecured creditor claims that voted to reject the Plan. Those claims were held by Invictus Global Management, LLC (“Invictus”), a distressed investment fund that recently purchased the claims subject to a “plan support provision” which purportedly compelled the claimholder to support the Debtors’ Plan.

The merchant cash advance (“MCA”) industry recently provided two different bankruptcy courts with an opportunity to consider the characterization of MCA funding transactions as either “true sales” of receivables or “disguised loans”.

Die anhaltenden Auswirkungen der Covid-19-Pandemie auf die Hotelbranche und eine mögliche Restrukturierungsoption

Über zwei Jahre nach Ausbruch der Covid-19-Pandemie sind deren Auswirkungen auf die deutsche Wirtschaft immer noch deutlich spürbar. Insbesondere die Hotelbranche ist von der sogenannten 4. Welle, den derzeitigen Rekordinzidenzen sowie den damit verbundenen staatlich angeordneten Einschränkungen wie 2G (Plus)- bzw. 3G-Regelungen weiterhin stark betroffen.

The practice of granting third party releases in bankruptcy was recently dealt another blow by the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. In Patterson et. al. v. Mahwah Bergen Retail Group, Inc., Civil No. 3:21cv167 (DJN), the District Court found that the lower bankruptcy court lacked the constitutional authority to both rule on certain of the claims covered by the third-party releases at issue and, it follows, to confirm the debtors’ plan of reorganization.

In a significant decision, the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court (Shenzhen court) has ordered formal recognition in the mainland for Hong Kong appointed liquidators. This is the first occasion on which a mainland court has formally recognized and granted assistance to Hong Kong liquidators, expressly granting them powers to deal with assets located in the mainland under the new insolvency co-operation mechanism concluded between Hong Kong and the mainland.

Smile Telecoms, which last year implemented the first restructuring plan for a cross-border African business, has now achieved another first by using section 901C(4) of the Companies Act 2006 to exclude all bar one class from voting on its new restructuring plan.

The Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware recently expressed its view regarding the reach of the “solvent debtor exception” in In re The Hertz Corp., et al. The solvent debtor exception is an equitable doctrine which supports the proposition that creditors are entitled to the full suite of their contractual rights if the debtor in bankruptcy is solvent.

Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code, adopted in all fifty states plus the District of Columbia with relatively few variations, sets out, among other things, the rules to be followed when obtaining a security interest in personal property collateral to secure a loan. The basic premise of Article 9 is that if the lender follows the rules, it should be protected against third parties, including other creditors or a bankruptcy trustee, who would seek to challenge the lender’s security interest or the priority of the security interest.