On February 1, 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered its much-anticipated decision in Sun Indalex Finance, LLC v. United Steelworkers et al. (Indalex). This bulletin focuses on pension plan administration issues arising from the Indalex case.

Facts

The long-awaited and highly anticipated decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in the Indalex case was released today. The decision stems from an appeal of an Ontario Court of Appeal decision dealing with a priority dispute between a court-ordered debtor-in-possession (DIP) charge granted under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (Canada) (CCAA) and a deemed trust for a wind-up pension deficiency asserted under the Pension Benefits Act (Ontario)(PBA).

On January 17, 2013, in a lengthy and closely reasoned opinion,¹ Judge Sean Lane of the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York authorized American Airlines, Inc. (“American”) to repay $1.3 billion in debt without payment of a make-whole premium over the objection of U.S.

This bulletin is a cross-country update presented by the national Restructuring & Insolvency Group. It discusses the key cases across the country involving debtor-inpossession (DIP) financing, court-ordered charges and other priority claims and disputes in recent Canadian insolvency proceedings.

Introduction

Section 8 of the Interest Act (Canada) (the Act) was considered by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Grant Forest Products Inc. (Re) in the context of an inter-creditor dispute.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that a Chapter 11 plan that provides for the sale of assets free and clear of a creditor’s lien must allow the creditor to “credit bid” at the sale. In upholding the Seventh Circuit’s decision,¹RadLAX Gateway Hotel, LLC v. Amalgamated Bank resolved the circuit split on this issue between the Seventh Circuit, on the one hand, and the Third and Fifth Circuits, on the other.

BANKRUPTCY CODE

Nearly a year has passed since the Supreme Court held, in Stern v. Marshall,¹ that bankruptcy courts may not determine a potentially broad range of “private rights” disputes arising in bankruptcy proceedings. Lower courts have grappled with the practical implications of Stern, but it is not yet clear whether the decision will ultimately result in a significant curtailment of bankruptcy court power or prove narrower in application.

On March 1, 2012 a number of important changes to the insolvency regime in Germany came into force.¹ The main objective of the reforms is to facilitate the restructuring of companies and to enhance creditor’s involvement. The German government believes – in light of the recent financial crisis – that these reforms are necessary to facilitate complex restructurings.

NEW PRELIMINARY CREDITORS’ COMMITTEE

In Re Indalex Limited, the OCA surprised insolvency, pension and financial services professionals by ruling that pension plan deficiency claims can have priority over the claims of DIP lenders in the context of Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act proceedings.

On Thursday, December 1, 2011, a three-judge panel of the Supreme Court of Canada granted leave to appeal from the decision of the Court of Appeal for Ontario in Re Indalex.