Key points
Judge Parker of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Texas recently issued an order in the case of Hilltop SPV, LLC, granting debtor Hilltop SPV LLC’s (“Hilltop”) motion to reject a Gas Gathering Agreement (“GGA”) with counter-party Monarch Midstream, LLC (“Monarch”).[1] This decision allows Hilltop to reject the GGA while allowing Monarch to retain the covenants that run with the land post-rejection.
At-a-glance cases provided by Gatehouse Chambers’ Insolvency Team, featuring:
Introduction
In this case the Court applied traditional constructive trust principles to disputed facts in order to determine whether a specific property came within the estate of a bankrupt. It will be of interest to practitioners advising in the area of challenged transfers in the context of insolvency.
The Trustees in the bankruptcy of Shaun Collins made an application pursuant to s.339 Insolvency Act 1986, to challenge a disposition of land. The land in question was a flat and the disposition was a 2021 transfer of a flat in London.
Harrington v. Purdue Pharma L.P., 144 S. Ct. 2017 (June 27, 2024)
Dispute Resolution analysis: In a judgment which brings to a conclusion the trial of the former BHS directors, the Court has held the directors joint and severally liable for the increase in net deficiency of the company arising out of breaches of duty which caused the company to continue trading.
Wright and others v Chappell and others; Re BHS Group Limited [2024] EWHC 2166 (Ch)
What are the practical implications of this case?
Teacher Retirement System of Texas plans to reduce its private equity target allocation to 12% from a current exposure of 16.7% starting in October. The planned reduction, which may be implemented over a number of years. For now, the change in target allocation likely means reduced new commitments, while some of the rebalancing could be accomplished by fund AUM growth.
At the bottom of the stack in investment fund structures, there are generally “real” assets—things like equity interests in portfolio companies, mortgage loans, commercial receivables, maybe even bricks and mortar. Fund finance transactions, though, are by design crafted to be at several levels removed from such underlying assets. With such ultimate assets remote from the transaction, it may seem to fund finance practitioners that concerns about changes in the Uniform Commercial Code (“UCC”) relating to the nature of collateral assets are just as remote.
There's been a flurry of regulatory activity in the UK and Europe over the past few weeks. Here's a look at the highlights.