PETER J. SOLOMON COMPANY, L.P., v. ONEIDA, LTD., CASE NO. 09-CIV-2229, 2010 WL 234827 (S.D.N.Y. JAN. 22, 2010)

Summary

In an exciting week for insolvency, the Minister for Financial Services, Superannuation and Corporate Law has released a package of reforms to Australia’s corporate insolvency laws. This reform package includes:

On 9 October 2009, a three-judge panel of the Supreme Court issued a judgment (file no. IV CSK 145/09), in which it ruled that the Polish legal system provides for the possibility to secure claims under a parallel debt (created under foreign law).

Facts of the case

In May 2009, the Treasury published a discussion paper entitled Developing effective resolution arrangements for investment banks. In this discussion paper the Treasury set out its initial thinking on the steps necessary to improve the regime around the failure of investment firms.

The term “stalking horse” originally referred to a horse or type of screen a hunter used to conceal his position from intended prey. Today the term takes a new meaning altogether thanks to its application in the bankruptcy context. A modern day “stalking horse” is an interested buyer of a debtor’s assets who is offered incentives for being the first to announce its intent. As the initial bidder, the stalking horse sets the minimum purchase price and other terms of the transaction.

On Monday 14 December 2009 the Dubai Financial Support Fund received a further US$10bn from the Abu Dhabi Government to be used to satisfy a series of upcoming obligations of Dubai World and its subsidiaries (“DWG”). The monies were used in part to pay off the Nakheel sukuk which matured on the same day. The markets in the region (and elsewhere) reacted positively with significant gains and Dubai's CDS spreads narrowed. That same afternoon the Dubai Government announced a new law (Decree No. 57). Sheikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Supreme Fiscal Committee, said:

There is something for everyone in the suitably named Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009–including potential recoveries for unsecured creditors of a debtor reorganizing or liquidating pursuant to the United States Bankruptcy Code.

Background

HM Treasury has issued a press release stating that the Government welcomes the European Commission's approval of the restructuring of the Royal Bank of Scotland and State Aid approval for the Asset Protection Scheme.

View Government welcomes approval of RBS restructuring, 14 December 2009  

The Supreme Court declines to review a circuit court decision in Oneida Ltd., which held that a debtor cannot discharge in bankruptcy, as a prepetition claim, premiums it owes to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation in connection with the termination of a pension plan.

Introduction

In a recent decision from the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, Judge Mary Walrath has required that members of an informal committee of noteholders comply with expansive disclosure requirements beyond the standard established for official committees. In a written opinion issued on December 2, 2009 in the case of In re Washington Mutual, Inc., Case No. 08-12229 (MFW), Judge Walrath granted a motion to require an informal group of noteholders to comply with Rule 2019 of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure.