To no great surprise, the Global Corporate v Hale appeal decision has gone against the director. The Court of Appeal handed down the eagerly awaited judgment on 27 November 2018.

SINGAPORE INSOLVENCY, RESTRUCTURING AND DISSOLUTION BILL PASSED 

On 1 October 2018, The Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Bill was passed in Singapore. 

This will consolidate personal and corporate insolvency laws into the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act, with the Bankruptcy Act to be repealed and the relevant corporate insolvency provisions in the Companies Act being removed. 

Corporate reorganizations often involve waivers of inter-company debt. In general – although perhaps more obviously outside the group context – the waiver of a debt can be seen as producing a profit for the debtor company. Where this is reflected in profit and loss for accounting purposes, a taxable profit may arise in the hands of a UK resident debtor. Typically, however, debt waivers in the context of corporate reorganizations are not problematic.

A discharged Bankrupt had intentionally misled the Court as to his COMI being in England and Wales in order to obtain a Bankruptcy Order. Four years after the making of the Bankruptcy Order, the Court annulled it on the grounds that the Court did not have jurisdiction to make the Order in the first place.

The joint liquidators of Peak Hotels & Resorts Limited ("Peak") brought an unsuccessful appeal that a legal charge held over funds paid into court ("Funds") was incapable of enforcement. The court dismissed the appeal on the basis that Peak did retain a proprietary interest over the funds.

On 29 October 2018, HM Treasury published a consultation paper on a breathing space scheme and a statutory debt repayment plan, which were both part of the government’s 2017 manifesto commitments.

On 01 November 2018, the President of Ukraine signed the Law "On Amendments to Certain Legal Acts of Ukraine on Resumption of Lending" (the “Law”) adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on 03 July 2018. The Law eliminates most of legislative gaps that existed in the loan and mortgage legal environment of Ukraine.

In this connection the Law introduced several significant changes that can be considered as rather positive for borrowers, inter alia, it:

What is a CVA?

A CVA is an insolvency and rescue procedure under the Insolvency Act 1986, allowing a company in financial distress to make legally binding arrangements with its unsecured creditors. Typically, this involves rescheduling or reducing the company’s debts or even amending certain contractual terms.

Ashfords successfully acted for the Joint Trustees in Bankruptcy of Vincent Mascarenhas (deceased) in their application to discharge Freezing Orders, an Interim Charging Order and an Interim Third Party Debt Order obtained by creditors of the late Bankrupt in 2014. The Joint Trustees were not a party to the original proceedings but had standing to make the applications.

In a recent landmark cross border decision the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court clarified that general managers cannot rely on their Directors and Officers Liability Insurance cover (D&O) in the event of a claim for repayment under Germany's "wrongful trading" legislation. 

Providing cover for the directors and officers of a company or the company itself, D&O insurance provides reimbursement in the event the insured suffers loss as a result of legal action brought for alleged wrongful acts of the directors and officers.