As we reported in April, the Insolvency Service has issued a call for evidence inviting comments on the issues with, and improvements that could be made to, the collective redundancy consultation requirements for employers facing insolvency. The Government has been seeking views on how well the requirements work both before an insolvency practitioner has been appointed to the failing company and after a formal appointment has been made.
Case: The joint administrators of African Minerals Limited (in administration) v Madison Pacific Trust Limited and Shangdong Steel Hong Kong Zengli Limited (HCMP 865 of 2015)
On 26 March 2015, the Deregulation Bill and the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill received Royal Assent. These Acts make a number of important changes to the law affecting directors, insolvency law and regulation.
The changes affect (among other things) directors’ liabilities, the powers of administrators and the rights of creditors. While some changes are relevant to all those advising companies and directors, others are of interest principally to insolvency officeholders.
On April 17, NewSat Ltd. (NewSat) and various affiliates, including Jabiru Satellite Holdings Pty Ltd., were placed in administration in Australia by the trustee for its lenders, Citicorp International, and related petitions were filed in the U.S.
Case: (The Trustees of the Olympic Airlines SA Pension and Life Assurance Scheme (Appellants) v Olympic Airlines SA (Respondent) [2015] UKSC 27)
On 9 April the Polish Parliament adopted a bill implementing the so-called “second chance” policy for businesses, pursued at the EU level.
The Act introduces a clear separation between restructuring proceedings and bankruptcy proceedings. As the latter are commonly perceived as stigmatising, the initiation of bankruptcy can hinder successful restructuring. The new Act introduces four new types of restructuring proceedings, i.e.:
The Supreme Court has held that, where a company had been the victim of wrong-doing by its directors, the directors’ wrong-doing could not be attributed to the company to prevent it (or its liquidators) from bringing claims against the directors.
The Insolvency Service has issued a call for evidence inviting comments on the issues with, and improvements that could be made to, the collective redundancy consultation requirements for employers faced with insolvency.
After a stream of successes for lenders in valuation claims against valuers in recent times, the recent success for a valuer in an application for summary judgment in the case of Tiuta International Ltd (in liquidation) v De Villiers Chartered Surveyors Ltd offers some comfort to valuers. It demonstrates the courts’ unwillingness to follow creative attempts by lenders to establish a cause of action by disregarding the established legal principles in respect of causation in valuation claims.
On March 25, LightSquared Inc. obtained U.S. Bankruptcy Court approval to exit Chapter 11 protection pursuant to a restructuring plan that will pay its largest creditor, Charles Ergen, roughly $1.5b in cash to account for full repayment, with interest, of Ergen’s holdings of LightSquared debt.