On May 31, 2021, Houston, Texas-based OFS International, LLC, also known as OFSi, a privately held company which provides a full complement of services required to supply oil country tubular goods for the oil and gas industry, along with affiliates, filed a petition under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas (Case No. 21-31784).

On May 31, 2021, ALH Properties No. Fourteen, LP, owner and operator of the Embassy Suites Houston Downtown hotel in Houston, TX, filed a petition under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas (Case No. 21-31797). The company estimated $50 million to $100 million in assets and $10 million to $50 million in liabilities.

On May 30, 2021, Certa Dose, Inc, a New York-based pharmaceutical technology company that has developed a proprietary and patented method of delivering medicine to eliminate the risk of life-threatening overdoes, filed a petition under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (Case No. 21-11045).

On June 1, 2021, JDS Fourth Avenue LLC, a New York-based real estate development company, filed a petition under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Case No. 21-10888). The company estimated $1 million to $10 million in both assets and liabilities.

On May 19, 2021, Hospitality Investors Trust Operating Partnership, L.P., a New York-based hotel industry real estate investment trust, severely impacted by the Covid-19 related travel drop-offs, along with affiliate Hospitality Investors Trust, Inc., filed a petition under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Case No. 21-10830).

Last week was a busy week for the courts: we reported on the landlord-led challenges to the New Look CVA and the Virgin Active restructuring plan. Neither judgment made happy reading for landlords, with all challenges dismissed in New Look and the restructuring plan sanctioned despite their objections in Virgin Active. The story has slightly improved for landlords today with the court revoking the Regis CVA. There are important findings from Regis, but in itself the judgment will not be sufficient to turn the tide.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Spanish Government has approved a number of financial support measures to address companies’ liquidity requirements, including the creation of two guarantee schemes (líneas de avales) managed through the Spanish Official Credit Institute (Instituto de Crédito Oficial – ICO) in relation to financings granted to companies and the self-employed:

On May 14, 2021, Gateway Kensington LLC, filed a petition under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (Case No. 21-22274).

On 12 May 2021, the High Court sanctioned Virgin Active’s Part 26A restructuring plan which had been heavily contested by certain landlords. This is the third restructuring plan to use cross-class cramdown (first used in the DeepOcean Group and subsequently in Smile Telecoms), and the first to bind dissenting landlord classes to lease compromises.

There has been much debate in recent years around the use made of certain UK restructuring tools – the company voluntary arrangement and, more recently, the new restructuring plan – to restructure commercial property leases. Commercial tenants argue that compromise is necessary to address high fixed costs that are no longer sustainable, but landlords have often been critical of the approach taken. This debate has become more acute in the context of the pandemic, as many High Street businesses subject to mandatory closure have built up significant rent arrears that need to be addressed.