On 21 April 2020, just over a week before the anticipated end of the South African national lockdown, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced further economic and social relief measures in response to the COVID-19 epidemic. This comes at a time when South Africa teeters towards a food and humanitarian crisis of “biblical proportions”.

In response to the COVID-19 virus, Canada’s federal government has restricted non-essential travel and closed the US border. Canada’s provincial governments have enacted highly restrictive measures including mandating the closure of facilities providing recreational programs (i.e. gyms), libraries, public and private schools, licensed childcare centres, bars and restaurants, theaters, cinemas and concert venues, and the list goes on. Some provinces have also banned gatherings of more than 5 people and prohibited all non-essential businesses.

On March 17, 2020, the Court of Appeal of Québec (the "Court") issued an important ruling concerning "pre-post" compensation and "non-dischargeable" debts under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (the "CCAA"), by finding that the debt of a municipality arising from an agreement entered into as part of a voluntary reimbursement program ("VRP") under the Act to ensure mainly the recovery of amounts improperly paid as a result of fraud or fraudulent tactics in connection with public contracts ("Bill 26") is unsecured debt in connection with the insolvency of a co-contra

Somewhere close to Sandton – Africa’s richest square mile – lies the suburb of Parkmore in the Gauteng Province. This is the principal place of business of a debtor that cannot pay its debts, and is facing the barrel of an application for its winding-up. The debtor’s registered address is in Mbombela within the province of Mpumalanga – close to Africa’s Big Five game. Two court options come into play.

South African state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are coming under tremendous pressure to do something to extricate themselves from their financial woes. Any kind of bankruptcy event cannot be the answer: because of the obvious cross-default impact such a declaration will have on various debt and other instruments in the capital markets. It will also be catastrophic to the Government’s standing and rating in the financial markets.

Chapter 6 of the South African Companies Act, 2008, as a corporate restructuring regime, provides a formal restructuring tool for financially distressed (which exists when a company is unable to pay its debts as they fall due (cash-flow insolvency) or when a company’s liabilities exceed the value of its assets (balance-sheet insolvency) or when those events are likely to occur in 6 months (imminent insolvency) companies.

Saam Golshani and Alexis Hojabr, White & Case LLP

This is an extract from the first edition of GRR's The Art of the Pre-Pack. The whole publication is available here.

Christopher Harlowe and Christopher Levers, Mourant

This is an extract from the first edition of GRR's The Art of the Pre-Pack. The whole publication is available here.

The Cayman Islands has established itself as the jurisdiction of choice for financially sophisticated businesses such as hedge funds, private equity funds, special purpose vehicles and trusts that use offshore vehicles.

David Baxter and Brian O’Malley, A&L Goodbody

This is an extract from the first edition of GRR's The Art of the Pre-Pack. The whole publication is available here.

Introduction

Pre-packs in Ireland probably are not as common as they should be. In theory, a pre-pack is broadly available in each of our insolvency procedures: liquidation, examinership and receivership.

Dominic Emmett and Hannah Cooper, Gilbert + Tobin

This is an extract from the first edition of GRR's The Art of the Pre-Pack. The whole publication is available here.