The Alberta Energy Regulator’s (the “AER”) final phase of changes to the Licensee Liability Rating Program (the “LLR Program”) comes into effect on August 1, 2015. The AER’s Bulletin 2015-13 (found here) says that the implementation date was delayed from May 1 to August 1, 2015, to give licensees more time to understand the implications of, and prepare for, the Phase-3 program changes in light of current market conditions.

What is a Stalking Horse?

In the distressed M&A context, a stalking horse refers to a potential purchaser participating in a stalking horse auction who agrees to acquire the assets or business of an insolvent debtor as a going concern. In a stalking horse auction of an insolvent business, a preliminary bid by the stalking horse bidder is disclosed to the market and becomes the minimum bid, or floor price, that other parties can then outbid. 

Recent decisions in the Ontario courts have brought this issue to the forefront, which is salient during this time of economic uncertainty for the oil industry and its related environmental obligations. The courts have had to focus on balancing competing public interests: those of creditors and the general health and safety of the public when a debtor has an outstanding obligation to remediate its pollution.

Pocas veces una legislación “moderna” (recordemos que el texto original de la Ley Concursal es de 2003) ha sido objeto de tanta modificación (en sus diez años de vigencia lleva más de 16 modificaciones). Lo que es seguro es que no será la última, de hecho en las próximas semanas verá la luz la Ley por la que se adoptan medidas urgentes en materia de refinanciación y reestructuración de deuda empresarial (procedente del Real Decreto-ley 4/2014, de 7 de marzo), un auténtico ejemplo de “reforma de la reforma”.

​The doctrine of federal paramountcy provides that where there is an inconsistency between validly enacted but overlapping provincial and federal legislation, the provincial legislation is inoperative to the extent of the inconsistency and the remainder of the provincial legislation is unaffected.

1.- Antecedentes

A recent decision at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Commercial List) brought to the fore the role of fairness opinions in solvent arrangement transactions. In Re ChampionIron Mines Limited (Champion) the court approved the arrangement but deemed the fairness opinion inadmissible on the basis that it failed to disclose the reasons underlying its conclusion.

1. Introducción

Entre las medidas de refinanciación de las empresas con problemas de solvencia o liquidez que ha previsto el Real Decreto-ley 4/2014, de 7 de marzo, destacan los estímulos para incentivar la conversión en capital (acciones o participaciones) de la deuda financiera, cuyos costes a menudo lastran la supervivencia de la empresa.

El Real Decreto-ley 4/2014, de 7 de marzo, por el que se adoptan medidas urgentes en materia de refinanciación y reestructuración de deuda empresarial, ha modificado el régimen de la Ley Concursal en lo relativo a los acuerdos de refinanciación.

Si bien podría decirse que la práctica totalidad de la reforma se refiere de una u otra forma a ellos, el núcleo de la regulación, el que define los requisitos que han de cumplir este tipo de acuerdos para quedar protegidos frente a las acciones de reintegración concursales, ha quedado localizado en el artículo 71 bis.

In Susi v. Bourke, 2014 O.J. No. 11

A Summary

In Susi v. Bourke, [2014] OJ No 11, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice held that when all of the directors of a corporation fail to comply with their fiduciary duties, none of them can seek a remedy for oppression.