Where a company's liquidation is necessary, deciding who or where is best placed to administer an orderly wind down for the benefit of creditors can be difficult: the shortfall of assets in an insolvency will highlight jurisdictional differences in approach as to questions of priority, frequently territorial rather than universalist.

The full strength of the economic headwinds facing the UK economy is not yet clear, but a helpful recent report by insolvency and restructuring adviser Begbies Traynor provided some useful numbers around the attitudes of businesses.

As another Irish Court year will soon commence, now is an opportune time to look back at some of the more interesting insolvency and restructuring judgments to have been delivered in the Superior Courts during the last 12 months.

The judgments explored below will prove of relevance and importance to practitioners and clients navigating distressed corporates and assets over the coming weeks and years. Please do get in touch with your Walkers Ireland Insolvency and Dispute Resolution contact or any of the contacts listed below with any comments or queries.

In the April 2022 decision of Harte Gold Corp. (Re), the Ontario Superior Court of Justice [Commercial List] (the Court) provides guidance on the appropriate use of reverse vesting orders (RVOs) in insolvency proceedings and enumerates key questions that must be addressed prior to the granting of an RVO. It is clear that the Court's reasoning in Harte Gold will have far reaching implications.

The much-anticipated and welcome reforms to the Cayman Islands restructuring and insolvency legislation will come into force on 31 August 2022.

This overview is intended as an introductory summary to the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA), Canada’s principal statute for the reorganization of a large insolvency corporation. The CCAA applies in every province and territory of Canada, and even purports to have worldwide jurisdiction.

Overview  

In a recent decision of the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands (the “Court”) concerning a supervision order in respect of a Cayman company in voluntary liquidation, Kawaley J considered the settled principles in a solvent Cayman Islands liquidation involving a dispute as to the identity of the official liquidators to be appointed.

The Proceeding 

Executive Summary 

Where multiple Cayman Islands entities in the same corporate structure become subject to insolvency proceedings (e.g. Cayman Islands master/ feeder fund structures), the Cayman Islands Courts will typically seek to appoint the same liquidators at each level where such entities share similarities in circumstances. Doing so typically aligns with the Overriding Objective of the Court to deal with matters economically and efficiently, and in the context of a liquidation, helps protect the interests of stakeholders in the liquidation. 

Legislative reforms to Part V of the Cayman Islands Companies Act will shortly be coming into force which will, amongst other things, introduce a new restructuring officer regime available to certain debtors in financial distress.

Global Perspectives on Insolvency, Restructuring & Dispute Resolution 

As primarily offshore lawyers, we speak on a daily basis with onshore counsel, banks, asset managers, trustees, corporates, insolvency practitioners and individuals around the world. Those conversations give our Global Insolvency & Dispute Resolution Practice Group a unique perspective on the different market trends and their regional impact in 2022.