The power of a bankruptcy court to authorize the sale of assets “free-and-clear” of liens and any other interests is a powerful tool that is used to realize value from distressed businesses. Indeed, purchasers will occasionally insist that sellers file a chapter 11 case in order to “cleanse the assets” by conducting their sale under Bankruptcy Code § 363(b). But how far does this power reach? Can bankruptcy be used to protect the purchaser from potential successor liability claims?
The Italian Supreme Court (5 July 2016, No. 13719) issues a maiden decision on the conditions for theprotection afforded by restructuring plan to stand if the plan fails and bankruptcy is declared
The case
The Court of Cassation (13 June 2016, No. 12120) confirmed that a limited liability company can bedeclared bankrupt, if it is found that the company is a partner of an insolvent de facto partnership
The case
The Court of Trento (3 May 2016) ruled that the judicial liquidator of the concordato is entitled to bring aclaim against directors and statutory auditors, although the claim is not considered by the liquidationplan and has not been approved by the shareholders of the company
The Case
New York bankruptcy judge dismisses claims to recover approximately $1 billion that had been distributed to noteholders following commencement of the Lehman Brothers chapter 11 proceedings in September 2008.
England has been the jurisdiction of choice for European restructurings. While other jurisdictions have sought to revamp their insolvency law in recent years in an effort to chip away at the English dominance in the restructuring arena, the lure of the tried and tested English legislation and judiciary means that the English system has remained dominant. In the wake of Brexit, will England lose its place as jurisdiction of choice?
In a decision of 9 June 2016, the German Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof, "BGH") has ruled that the determination of the close-out amount in a netting provision based on the German Master Agreement for Financial Derivatives Transactions (Rahmenvertrag für Finanztermingeschäfte or DRV) is not legally effective in the event of insolvency to the extent that it deviates from section 104 of the German Insolvency Code.
The Court of Cassation (29 March 2016, No. 6045) ruled that the look-back period for claw-back actionsstarts from the concordato filing, when bankruptcy was declared after a period of time, provided thatboth procedures refer to the same insolvency situation
The case
The Court of Bolzano (5 April 2016) confirms that revolving credit facility agreements providing forancillary set-off and collection terms in favour of the bank can be suspended, but the bank is protectedbecause the amounts collected are controlled by the Judicial Commissioner
The case