On 27 June 2014, the High Court of Justice of England and Wales sanctioned the solvent scheme of arrangement made by J.K. Buckenham Limited and its Scheme Creditors pursuant to Part 26 of the Companies Act 2006 which was voted on and approved by the Scheme Creditors during the meeting held on 4 June 2014. A copy of the Order sanctioning the Scheme was delivered to the Registrar of Companies on 30 June 2014, and the Scheme became effective on that date.
On 16 April 2014 we assisted J.K. Buckenham Limited (JKB) in successfully obtaining the court’s leave to convene a meeting of its creditors, a meeting at which JKB will ask such creditors to consider and to vote on a scheme of arrangement under the Companies Act 2006 (the Scheme). JKB is promoting the Scheme as part of a wider solution to end its broking obligations, release trapped cash, relinquish its FCA permissions, and ultimately liquidate.
THE SCHEME
American and British directors of corporations should be mindful of the different standards of conduct, obligations, and potential personal liability when holding directorships in Turkish companies, particularly if such companies’ financial situation is deteriorating.
The Manitoba Court of Appeal will consider an interesting insolvency case involving hog feed suppliers who claim of priority for the cost of feed over Farm Credit Canada and Bank of Montreal, the hog producer’s secured creditors.
In general, the Court found Suppliers may have an unjust enrichment claim arising from an alleged fraud on the part of producer, who allegedly ordered feed while preparing for the Companies Creditors Arrangement Act (“CCAA”) application with no intention of paying for the feed.
When the final version of the Omnibus II Directive comes into force, it will amend the Solvency II Directive so that it includes a sunrise clause, a phasing-in clause, and a run-off and restructuring exemption, as well as significant reporting and other transitional measures. It will also allow or require the European Commission and the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) to adopt “regulatory technical standards”,“implementing technical standards” and “comply or explain Guidelines”.
The English Court has devised a new route to impose liability on a company's UBO who strips assets from the company leaving creditors to claim in its insolvency. UBOs feeling comfortable about the security of their corporate veil after the Supreme Court’s decision in Prest[1], will need to look carefully at this recent decision, which may be applied in other jurisdictions with corporate laws based on English law, such as BVI and Cyprus.
English courts may, when making ex parte (without notice) orders in a court-appointed receivership, include a final order that the defendant pays the costs incurred in obtaining the order notwithstanding that it was not notified of the application for the order.
The UK’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has been developing its Early Warning Indicators (EWIs) for Solvency II internal model firms for more than a year. From September 2013, it will expect these firms to:
For some, environmental liability is akin to a game of hot potato. In other words, no one wants to be the one left holding the potato when the music stops playing - otherwise they could be facing significant obligations to remedy contaminated lands. As remediation costs can be significant, owners, purchasers and creditors must tread carefully when dealing with contaminated real estate.
The New Year seems to be starting with a bang for the ILS industry. On January 23rd, KKR announced it had taken a 24.9% stake in Nephila. Earlier in the month Validus reported a $400 million capital raise to fund investments in collateralized reinsurance and ILS. In a transaction on which Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP advised Transatlantic Re, Transatlantic Re in December acquired a minority interest in Pillar Capital Management and announced a strategic partnership with Pillar, a manager of funds investing in collateralized reinsurance and ILS.