A number of key decisions from the English courts in 2021 illustrate the litigation trends that are likely to have implications for the financial services industry in 2022 and beyond (see below “Cases to watch in 2022”).
Market misconduct and mis-selling
In the first of a series of claims issued by ECU Group Plc in relation to alleged wrongdoing in the foreign exchange markets by a number of banks, the High Court held that:
In Parts 1, 2 and 3 we covered some easy traps to fall into when trying to execute a distressed financing tr
On Friday, January 14, 2022, BH Cosmetics Holdings LLC, a beauty brand based in North Hollywood, California filed a petitionfor chapter 11 relief in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Lead Case No. 22-10050. BH Cosmetics specializes in clean, vegan, and cruelty-free cosmetics and beauty products sold via ecommerce channels and wholesale.
In our last blogpost (here) we reported how the court had, for the first time, exercised its power under s. 901C(4) Companies Act 2006 to exclude a company’s members and all but one class of its creditors from voting on a restructuring plan under Part 26A. The facts of this case are set out in more detail in that blogpost.
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New developments regarding Spanish pre-insolvency restructuring tools
14 January 2022
The bill for the Amendment of the Spanish Insolvency Law that transposes Directive 2019/1023 has been published in the Spanish Congress Official Gazette (the Bill), setting out structural reforms in pre-insolvency and insolvency regulations to achieve the following goals:
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Novedades en la Ley Concursal espaola en los procesos de refinanciacin
14 de enero 2022
El Boletn Oficial de las Cortes Generales - Congreso ha publicado el Proyecto de Ley de Reforma de la Ley Concursal que traspone la Directiva 2019/1023 (el Proyecto de Ley) que acomete una reforma estructural en el mbito preconcursal y concursal con numerosas novedades y con los siguientes objetivos:
Summary
For the first time, the court has exercised its power under s. 901C(4) Companies Act 2006 to exclude a company’s members and all but one class of its creditors from voting on a restructuring plan under Part 26A. The court was satisfied that only one class of creditors had a genuine economic interest in the company and noted that “this was not a marginal case”.
Key drivers for the court’s decision (see more detail below) were:
On January 11, 2021, Seadrill New Finance Limited (“NSNCo”), issuer of Seadrill secured notes due 2025, and several affiliates filed a petitionfor relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas (Case No. 22-90001).
The National Security and Investment Act 2021 (the Act) comes into force on 4 January 2022. The Act sets out the UK’s new national security screening regime. The Act replaces, and significantly extends, the UK government’s power to investigate and intervene in transactions which pose, or could pose, threats to the UK’s national security (see our earlier related blog post).
“On December 17, 2021, Tokyo-based specialty purpose vehicles JPA No. 111 Co., Ltd. and JPA No. 49 Co., Ltd. formed to acquire and lease Airbus A350 aircraft, filed a petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (Case No. 21-12075). The company reports $100 to $500 million in both assets and liabilities.