Another interesting case on schemes around the issue of insolvency. A judgment handed down yesterday by Snowden J in MAB Leasing Limited (a Malaysia Airlines leasing company) "parked" the issue of whether a Part 26 scheme (note, not a Part 26A plan) was an insolvency related event under the Cape Town Convention and Aircraft Protocol, as there was unanimous creditor consent. At the earlier convening hearing, Zacaroli J, without needing to decide the issue, stated that the company counsel's skeleton provided a "powerful case for concluding that the [Cape Town Convention] did not apply".
Very interesting judgment yesterday from Zacaroli J in "gategroup Guarantee Limited" (with a small g) that Part 26A plans are insolvency proceedings and therefore fall outside European civil and commercial jurisdictional rules. Pre-Brexit case law tells us that Part 26 schemes are probably not insolvency proceedings and are therefore capable of falling within those rules. Zacaroli J found that the "financial difficulties" threshold conditions to Part 26A plans (which do not exist for Part 26 schemes) made a significant difference.
A recent decision of the Court has confirmed that the recipient of funds from an individual who is subject to a bankruptcy petition can be construed as having provided value where that value is given to a third party (and not to the bankrupt personally).
Roger Elford and Jessica Williams in the Corporate Restructuring and Insolvency team at Charles Russell Speechlys LLP acted for a successful Respondent, Howard de Walden Estates Limited, in these proceedings.
The Background
While the dust settles, and lawyers on both sides of The Channel scrutinise the UK-EU trade deal and consider the many legal issues not covered by the accord, The Netherlands is taking steps to assert itself as the most attractive restructuring market in Europe.
The temporary restrictions on winding-up petitions brought in under the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (“CIGA”) are wider than originally envisaged when first announced by the government in April 2020 and have now been extended until 31 March 2021.
The restrictions initially related to the period 1 March 2020 – 30 September 2020 (referred to as the ‘relevant period’). On 24 September, it was announced that the relevant period would be extended until 31 December 2020 and it has now been extended again until 31 March 2021.
The Monthly Insolvency Statistics for November 2020 were released by the government on 15 December 2020 which saw an increase in corporate insolvencies up by 4% to 889, compared to October’s figure of 862 and a fall in personal insolvencies down by 22% with 9,319 compared to October’s figure of 11,945.
Many of the measures of the French Ordinance No. 2020-596 of 20 May 2020, adapting pre-insolvency and insolvency French rules in response to the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, were due to expire on 31 December 2020.
The French law on Acceleration and Simplification of Public Action n°2020-1525 of 7 December 2020 now extends them until December 31, 2021.
The extended measures are as follows:
Jaeger and Peacocks are the latest in a (seemingly) ever lengthening list of High Street stores who have fallen victim to the pandemic, with both stores entering administration last week.
FRP Advisory have been appointed as administrators and are seeking a sale of the businesses which they note are both "attractive brands" for a potential purchaser.
The UK Government has introduced a new suspension of the wrongful trading provisions contained in s214 of the Insolvency Act 1986 (IA 1986) to apply from 26 November 2020 to 30 April 2021.
The oil and gas industry in the United States is highly dependent upon an intricate set of agreements that allow oil and gas to be gathered from privately owned land. Historically, the dedication language in oil and gas gathering agreements—through which the rights to the oil or gas in specified land are dedicated—was viewed as being a covenant that ran with the land. That view was put to the test during the wave of oil and gas exploration company bankruptcies that began in 2014.