In a case with wide-reaching implications for the private equity industry, the U.S. Supreme Court ended a decade-long effort by distressed debt investors to undermine the safe harbor from avoidance actions set forth in Section 546(e) of the Bankruptcy Code. On April 19, 2021, the Supreme Court denied a petition for certiorari in the In re Tribune Company Fraudulent Conveyance Litigation (“Tribune”), preserving the safe harbor defense for LBOs established by the influential Second Circuit.

Following the end of the flexibilities afforded by The Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (CIGA) in relation to the conduct of general meetings and following the publication of guidance by The Chartered Governance Institute (ICSA) we have reviewed notices of Annual General Meetings (AGMs) to be held after 30 March 2021. We set out some common themes around how companies are organising their AGMs in light of the guidance issued and the current restrictions in place.

In June 2020, the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act (the “CIGA”) introduced a new procedure to the restructuring toolkit in England & Wales, the Part 26A restructuring plan (the “Plan”, see further detail on CIGA in our article here). The Plan is similar to the well-tested English law scheme of arrangement (the “Scheme”), and the English courts have so far relied on the wealth of Scheme case law to guide them in deciding whether to sanction a Plan.

European Real Estate Finance: Market Update – Q1 2021 March 2021 Authors: Jeffrey Rubinoff, Dr. Thomas Flatten, Thierry Bosly, Hadrien Servais, Carl Hugo Parment, Fernando Navarro, Christophe Goossens, Julio Peralta, Angel Calleja, Aurélie Terlinden, Alexandra Stolt, Amitaben Patel & Brendon Vyas Further information on the response to COVID-19 can be found here, and we also have a German-language article, available here, looking at the impact on commercial leases. LIBOR Discontinuation Much has happened in the world of LIBOR Discontinuation since our last update.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia overhauled its corporate insolvency framework in 2018 with the introduction of a new bankruptcy law. In this client alert we examine the new Bankruptcy law in detail.

Executive Summary

The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic led to a wave of creditor schemes of arrangement ("schemes") and restructuring plans ("RPs") in the second half of 2020, which shows no sign of abating in 2021. For the uninitiated, the scheme (a long-established tool) and the newer RP process are court led UK restructuring options that a company can use to bind a minority of creditors into a restructuring. An RP can also be used to "cram down" an entire dissenting creditor class into a deal where certain conditions are met.

In 2020, commercial chapter 11 bankruptcy filings climbed to their highest levels in recent years, as COVID-19 disruption sparked sharp declines in GDP and volatile stock market swings. Notably, the pandemic accelerated the restructurings of some companies that were already on the precipice of financial distress, particularly in the retail, energy, travel and hospitality sectors.

A report about the administrative practice of the German Takeover Panel in the last decade

The exemption from the requirement to launch a mandatory offer based on the restructuring of a target company is the most frequently applied exemption from the mandatory offer procedure in German takeover law. In view of the expected increase of restructuring cases due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is likely to become even more important.

I had an interesting conversation this week with the Evening Standard, considering the prospect of further company voluntary arrangements, or 'CVAs' on the UK high street as the year progresses.

The vast majority of ‘bricks and mortar’ retailers, as well as hospitality venues, are desperately seeking ways to cut their fixed costs to improve their chances of riding-out the pandemic. Leasehold obligations are often among the most significant of those fixed costs, and the CVA offers a well-tested route to compromise those obligations.

General partner-led fund restructurings accounted for the majority of private equity secondaries volume in 2020 as managers sought liquidity in a flat exit market

Private equity (PE) fund general partners (GPs) faced a challenging year for returning cash to their investors, leading many to turn to GP-led fund restructurings to create liquidity for investors as fund lives expire.