Samson Paper Company Limited (In Creditors' Voluntary Liquidation) [2021] HKCFI 2151(date of decision: 20 July 2021)

China All Access (Holdings) Limited [2021] HKCFI 1842 (date of decision: 21 June 2021)

Introduction

Introduction¹

In order to obtain a bankruptcy order upon either a creditors', or a bankrupt's own, bankruptcy application, it must be shown that a debtor:

Executive Summary

In this edition of the Going concerns, our Stephenson Harwood restructuring and insolvency team provides a brief update on the newest developments in Singapore, UK and Hong Kong. For Singapore, we update on the "conflict" between the admiralty and insolvency regimes while our London team provides an update on the cutting-edge Part 26A restructuring plans. Last but certainly not least, our Hong Kong team dissects and discusses the significance and impact of the new cooperation mechanism for Hong Kong liquidators and Mainland administrators to seek mutual recognition and assistance.

Overview

A series of related decisions issued by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York in the ongoing Fairfield Sentry U.S. redeemer litigation — Fairfield Sentry II,¹Fairfield Sentry III,² and Fairfield Sentry IV³ — provide insight into, among other things, the interplay between the safe harbor provision of section 546(e)⁴ of the Bankruptcy Code (the “Safe Harbor”) and chapter 15.

In a recent decision, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey denied a debtor’s motion to reject a contract as executory under section 365 of the Bankruptcy Code, holding that the prepetition entry of a court order which required specific performance of a contract rendered the contract non-executory and, therefore, non-rejectable. In re Bennett Enters., Case No. 20-23761 (JNP), 2021 Bankr. LEXIS 625 (Bankr. D.N.J. 2021) (“Bennett Enterprises”).

Background

With data privacy issues constantly in the news, what do businesses need to know about handling personal information when they’re considering bankruptcy, especially if some personal information – like customer records – may be a valuable asset?

The Government has announced further measures to help commercial tenants who are in arrears as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, seemingly without much regard for the difficulties also suffered by landlords. Below we explain the latest measures and where this leaves landlords.

The headlines are:

Executive Summary