On August 12, 2021, nursery and landscaping company Moon Group of Chesapeake City, MD filed a petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Case No. 21-11140). According to the petition, several affiliates are also expected to file. The company reports up to $50,000 in assets and $10 million to $50 million in liabilities.

On August 1, 2021, Alpha Latam Management, LLC, a Miami-based financial services company that historically provides consumer loans in Latin America, along with certain affiliates, filed voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Case 21-11109).  The company reports $100 million to $500 million in estimated assets and $500 million to $1 billion in estimated liabilities.  As described further in the 

On July 29, 2021, GBG USA, Inc., along with several affiliates, filed a petition under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (Lead Case No. 21-11369). The ultimate parent company of GBG USA, Inc.

The Government has extended the restrictions in place concerning winding-up petitions and forfeiture of business tenancies until 30 September 2021 and 25 March 2022 respectively.

The extensions will receive a mixed reception, with landlords likely to feel particularly aggrieved at the limitations imposed on their ability to pursue debt (by winding-up petition) in circumstances where the tenant can pay, but won’t pay.

Insolvency practitioners will need to be familiar with three new Statements of Insolvency Practice which were introduced with effect from 1 April 2021.

Companies House temporarily paused their strike off processes in April 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The effect of this was to stay all strike off action. The stay was lifted on 10 October 2020 but stayed for a second time on 21 January 2021.

The second stay was lifted on 8 March 2021 and, absent further significant disruption caused by COVID-19, is unlikely to be subject to a further stay.

In Sarjanda Ltd (in liquidation) v Aluminium Eco Solutions Ltd and another [2021] EWHC 210 (Ch), an application to rescind a winding up order was refused where the application had been made over two years outside of the five-day time limit. That level of delay, allegedly caused by the company negotiating payment of its debts, was not a good enough reason for the breach of the time limit.

Practitioners are likely to be familiar with the provisions of The Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (“CIGA 2020”) which introduced new permanent measures to complement the insolvency regime as well as a number of temporary measures to support business dealing with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2016, the High Court determined that a person may propose to do something without having a settled intention to do it and dismissed an application for an order removing a fourth notice of intention from the court file. At the time the fourth notice was filed, the director only intended to appoint administrators if a CVA proposal was rejected by creditors.

On July 8, 2021, Pipeline Foods, LLC, along with several affiliates, which operate a Minnesota-based organic food supply chain company, filed a petition under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Case No. 21-11002). The company estimates $100 to $500 million in assets and liabilities.