The judgment in the much-publicised case of Akhmedovav Akhmedov & Ors[i] in April 2021 is a telling example of where the English Courts have exercised wide-reaching statutory powers to set aside or vary dispositions on trust with extra-territorial effect, notwithstanding the assets are held by offshore trustees, outside the Court’s j

Welcome to the first edition of Restructuring Watch from the Akin Gump financial restructuring team in London. These editions will provide short and accessible updates on key legal developments in the European restructuring and insolvency world. 

Happy 2022, everyone! It seems fitting to kick off our Make (Whole) a Minute Update series in 2022 with an alert on make-whole. On December 22, 2021, the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware ruled in favor of the Debtor-Hertz on a Motion to Dismiss filed by Debtor-Hertz with respect to make-whole claims and post-petition interest claims filed by public bondholders, with respect to four different series of bonds. In keeping with our theme that it takes about a minute to read our updates, here are the takeaways on the Hertz decision for institutional investors:

Subject to exceptions, a director of a company that enters into liquidation is restricted from being involved in the management of a new or existing company (SecondCo) with the same or a sufficiently similar name to that of the liquidating company (section 216 Insolvency Act 1986 (IA 1986)). If in breach of s.216, a director will have personal liability for all the relevant debts SecondCo incurred during the period of the breach under s.217 IA 1986.

In recent weeks, headlines around the UK have declared a crisis in the gas and energy sector: prices rising, suppliers collapsing, and customers – and industry professionals – wondering what has gone wrong.

Judgment was given by the Court of Appeal yesterday (7th October) in John Doyle Construction Limited (In Liquidation) v Erith Contractors Limited. This important case considered the relationship between adjudication and insolvency proceedings in the context of applications to enforce an adjudicator's decision. The underlying contract between JDC and Erith had related to hard landscaping works at the London Olympic park in Stratford.

On 9 September 2021, the UK Government announced that the current restrictions on the use of statutory demands and the presentation of winding up petitions (as introduced by Schedule 10 of Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (“CIGA”) and set to expire on 30 September 2021) will be amended by the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (Coronavirus) (Amendment of Schedule 10 Regulations 2021) (the “Regulations”) and replaced with more limited restrictions (discussed below) until 31 March 2022.

SU M M ER 2 02 1 | I F LR .C O M | 1 T he Hong Kong Companies Court has made a number of rulings concerning mainland Chinese corporate groups listed in Hong Kong SAR which illustrate the evolving landscape of cross-border insolvency law.These cases may, in some instances, cause creditors and debtors to re-evaluate some of the enforcement and defensive strategies traditionally used in the insolvencies of such companies.

1 Contact Information If you have any questions concerning this update, please contact: Naomi Moore Partner [email protected] Hong Kong +852 3694.3050 Abid Qureshi Partner [email protected] New York +1 212.872.8027 Liz Osborne Partner

In the groundbreaking recent decision in Re Samson Paper Company Limited (in Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation) [2021] HKCFI 2151 (“Samson”), the Hong Kong Companies Court (the “Hong Kong court”) has for the first time issued a letter of request to a court in mainland China under the new cross-border mutual recognition, assistance and cooperation arrangement between Hong Kong and mainland China (the “Mainland”) in relation to corporate insolvency and restructuring matters (the “Cooperation Arrangement”), which took effect on May 14, 2021.