A crisis far beyond anything experienced in recent memory
The way in which regulators, investors, banks and governments respond to the current sovereign debt challenges will echo for many years. Decisions made today will, for better or worse, continue to have consequences far beyond our current time horizon. Getting it right will not be easy.
On 5 November 2013, the European Commission launched a consultation on its proposed new guidelines on State aid for rescuing and restructuring firms in difficulty (“the draft R&R guidelines”) which will replace the current R&R guidelines adopted in 2004. The revision of the 2004 guidelines was postponed a number of times as a result of the financial crisis, during which the Commission applied a special R&R regime for the financial sector. At the time, the Commission was still considering adopting new R&R rules applicable to both the financial sector and the real economy.
This issue reviews the most important recent changes to the regime of challenging transactions made by debtors in anticipation of insolvency. These changes were introduced in the Resolution adopted at the Plenary Session of the Supreme Commercial Court of the Russian Federation (the “Supreme Commercial Court”) No. 63 “Certain Matters Relating to the Application of Chapter III.1 of the Federal Law “On Insolvency (Bankruptcy)”1 dated 23 December 2010 (the “Resolution”).2
In a ground-breaking decision, the Dutch Supreme Court recently found that a foreign bankruptcy trustee may in principle exercise the powers conferred on him under the lex concursus (the law governing the bankruptcy) in the Netherlands as well. Such powers can include the management and disposal of assets located in the Netherlands at the time of the foreign bankruptcy order.
There has recently been a number of successful pre-pack restructurings in the Netherlands. A 'pre-pack' is the term used for the restructuring of a company through a transaction that is prepared as much as possible outside formal insolvency proceedings, and whereby the enterprise survives, but some or all of the company's debt is restructured. The aim of preparing the transaction in advance is to ensure maximum preservation of value. Several structures can be distinguished.
A pre-pack is the term used for the restructuring of a company through a transaction that is prepared as much as possible outside of formal insolvency proceedings, and whereby the enterprise survives but some or all of the company's debt is restructured. The aim of preparing the transaction in advance is to ensure the maximum preservation of value. Several structures can be distinguished.
28 June 2013 the Russian President signed Federal Law No. 134-FZ amending a number of laws in relation to combating illegal financial operations.
The Law amended, in particular, the Law on Banks and Banking Activity, the Anti-Money Laundering Law, the Criminal Code and the Code of Administrative Offenses, the Law on State Registration of Legal Entities, the Bankruptcy Law, laws regarding certain financial organizations, and the Tax Code. Below is a summary of the key changes (save for those made to the Tax Code).
The First Circuit Court of Appeals has recently held in Sun Capital Partners III, LP v. New England Teamsters & Trucking Industry Pension Fund, No. 12-2312 (July 24, 2013), a case of first impression at the Circuit Court level, that a private equity fund that exercises sufficient control over a portfolio company may be considered a “trade or business” for purposes of Title IV of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).