Welcome to the inaugural edition of our new newsletter, which is intended to capture the key developments in the English disputes arena over the past three months. We hope that you will find it an interesting read, whether you are a litigator, either in private practice or in-house, or a generalist wanting to keep abreast of the goings on in this space. We also hope that you will pass it on to any of your colleagues who may find it useful.

Gerade im Anbetracht der aus der Corona-Pandemie folgenden Krise stellt sich die Frage: Was passiert mit Token in der Insolvenz, insbesondere, wenn sie von einem Dienstleister für seine Kunden verwahrt werden?

Especially in view of the crisis resulting from the Coronavirus pandemic, the question arises: What happens to tokens in insolvency, especially if they are held in safekeeping by a service provider for his customers?

The UK Government has proposed legislation to address the difficulties faced by UK companies as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when it comes to holding meetings of shareholders and filing documents with the UK Registrar of Companies (Companies House).

The first reading of the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill (the "Insolvency Bill") took place on 20 May 2020.  The Insolvency Bill will be debated by the House of Commons on 3 June 2020 and is proposed to be introduced as fast-track legislation. 

Lockdown, shutdowns, drops in revenue and related negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic faced by companies even still operating and in a healthy state have prompted the Czech government to respond to this situation and implement statutory measures to mitigate such impacts (the so-called LEX COVID), also in the area of insolvency. Most of such measures are only temporary during the extraordinary measures taken by public authorities during the COVID-19 pandemic. LEX COVID, which brings the below-mentioned changes, has already been enacted and came into force on 24 April 2020.

As a director or manager of a UAE company, you will know that like individuals, companies experience times of good health and occasional periods of sickness.

In this note, we focus on you, as directors (which includes managers) of “onshore” limited liability companies (“LLCs”), noting of course that the rules may also apply to certain free zone entities as well. We want you as directors to be certain of your duties and responsibilities in the good times but also sure of the actions you should or could take if things go wrong for your company, and financial difficulties arise.

Als Teil des gesetzgeberischen Maßnahmenpakets zur Abmilderung der wirtschaftlichen Auswirkungen der COVID-19-Pandemie erleichtert das COVID-19-Insolvenzaussetzungsgesetz (COVInsAG) die rechtssichere Finanzierung kriselnder Unternehmen und setzt Anreize an deren Gesellschafterkreise: der Nachrang von Gesellschafterdarlehen und das Erfordernis eines Sanierungsgutachtens sind durch das COVInsAG suspendiert.

In the past few years, many automotive suppliers have been facing increasing financial or operational problems. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated these problems and is putting some of these companies in considerable distress. The search for possible solutions is in full swing, and for financial investors or competitors with strong liquidity, there is the opportunity to acquire shares in the companies in crisis or alternatively in individual assets at comparatively favourable conditions.

On 23 March 2020, the Australian Parliament passed the Coronavirus Economic Response Package Omnibus Act No. 22 of 2020 (the Act), which is designed to provide an economic response to the effect, on Australia, of the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the world by stimulating and supporting economic activity.

In relation to the Australian insolvency regime the Act made some significant changes to the relevant laws as follows.

Temporary relief for financially distressed individuals and businesses