Lawyers occasionally wonder how the law ended up as it is. We had that experience after the Dutch Supreme Court’s decision of 1 July 2022 (Rabobank/Ten Berge q.q.; ECLI:NL:HR:2022:984), regarding the possibility or impossibility of pledging a claim. The Supreme Court decided that claims that have been made non-transferable under property law in a contractual agreement between a creditor and a debtor, cannot be pledged either.
In this article, Jose Maurellet SC and Michael Lok consider a recent judgment by Aedit Abdullah J of the Singapore High Court exploring issues arising out of the Model Law, including how and when the presumptive COMI may be displaced and whether a publicly held real estate investment trust falls within the scope of COMI.
Since 9 January 2022, the public type of the Dutch Scheme is automatically recognized in the EU under the European Insolvency Regulation. This will be further discussed in this blog.
Last year saw the introduction of the Dutch Scheme (we refer to our previous blogs for further details on the Dutch Scheme).
In Nuoxi Capital Ltd v Peking University Founder Group Co Ltd [2021] HKCFI 3817, Mr Justice Harris held that keepwell disputes should be determined in Hong Kong in accordance with the contractual exclusive jurisdiction clause, notwithstanding the Court recognising the keepwell provider’s Mainland insolvency proceedings.
In Re Samson Paper Holdings Ltd[2021] HKCFI 3288, the Honourable Mr. Justice Harris sanctioned a scheme of arrangement notwithstanding that there were proposed modifications after the relevant scheme meeting.
In Re HNA Group Co Limited[2021] HKCFI 2897, the Hong Kong Court recognised for the first time reorganisation proceedings commenced under the Mainland Enterprise Bankruptcy Law (“Mainland Reorganisation Proceedings”).
Test for risk of dissipation
In Re Cosmos Machinery Enterprises Ltd [2021] HKCFI 2088, Mr Justice Harris corrected some privatisation scheme practice and issued the following guidance:
(1) Rule 2.10 of the Code on Takeovers and Mergers (“Rule 2.10”) did not prevent offeror concert parties from voting on privatisation schemes.
In Re Samson Paper Co Ltd [2021] HKCFI 2151, the Hong Kong Court issued for the first time a letter of request to the Shenzhen Bankruptcy Court requesting the latter to recognise and assist Hong Kong liquidators.
On 28 June 2021, the Minister of Justice presented a draft temporary bill on transparency of expedited liquidations (de tijdelijke wet transparantie turboliquidatie). As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Minister expects that there will be an increase in the number of businesses that will need to be liquidated. Under Dutch law, the most efficient way to do this is through expedited liquidation (turboliquidatie). However, as the expedited liquidation barely provides for safeguards to creditors, it is often considered a mechanism that is open for abuse.