Over the last few years Spain has amended its insolvency laws to promote
out of court refinancing arrangements as a much needed alternative
to formal insolvency proceedings. The outcome of these changes,
aimed at putting Spain on a par with other EU jurisdictions, is yet to be
seen. However, what is clear is that the latest round of amendments
has substantially improved the possibility of reaching an out of court
refinancing settlement in Spain.
Historically, in relation to syndicated facilities, out of court refinancing
The Victorian Court of Appeal recently held that a payment, disposition or grant of security by a company to a person on behalf of, or for the benefit of a director of the company, extends to a mortgage of land given by the company to a creditor of the director in consideration of a covenant by the creditor not to sue the director.
As a result, insolvency practitioners now have stronger judicial guidance as to what constitutes a 'benefit' for the purposes of setting aside or varying voidable transactions, which should assist in recovering proceeds for unsecured creditors.
An insolvency administrator has been sentenced to 11 years of imprisonment for obtaining RMB1.3 million in bribes. Huang Zhicong (“Huang”), former vice-president of Building Materials Corporation in Shaoguan City of Guangdong Province, was the insolvency administrator of Shaoguan New Sunlight Textile Enterprise Co., Ltd. (“New Sunlight”).
Two companies showed interest in the assets of a third company that was in a state of bankruptcy.
On 25 July 2014 and 17 September 2014 respectively, Justice Brereton of the Supreme Court of NSW delivered two related judgments in Re AAA Financial Intelligence Ltd (in liquidation) andRe AAA Financial Intelligence Ltd (in liquidation) (No 2). The decisions deal with the evergreen topic of Liquidator remuneration and expenses.
Importantly, in fixing the Liquidators' remuneration, Justice Brereton adopted a "value" focussed approach, and discussed the relevance of considering matters beyond simply time spent multiplied by fixed hourly rates.
When a Ponzi scheme collapses, as with musical chairs, there will be some investors with a place to sit, while others are bereft of such comfort.
The Pensions Regulator (the "Regulator") has published a statement to help banking, insolvency and restructuring professionals understand its approach to its Financial Support Direction ("FSD") powers in insolvency situations.
A group of senior lenders to European Directories SA, a Macquarie Group Ltd affiliate, have succeeded on their appeal to the English Court of Appeal in litigation with European Directories' mezzanine lenders over a €2billion loan restructuring plan for the company.
Since BP Australia Pty Ltd v Brown, there has been a practice of Courts across Australia granting "shelf orders", whereby time for voidable transaction recovery actions by a Liquidator under section 588FF is extended "at large". The Court's power to grant these "shelf orders", however, is to be scrutinised by the High Court in December 2014, in the course of the Octaviar group liquidation.
Insolvency - 2013/14 Annual Case Update February 7, 2014 By Frank Spizzirri, Shaheen Karolia and Jonathan Tam (Student at Law) Baker & McKenzie LLP (Toronto) 2 Case Index Case Name Page # 1. The Indalex Update (Aveos/Grant Forest/Timminco) a) Aveos Fleet Performance Inc., 2013 QCCS 5762 b) Grant Forest Products Inc. v. GE Canada Leasing Services Co., 2013 ONSC 5933 c) Timminco ltée (Arrangement relatif à), 2014 QCCS 174 4 2. Re Northstar Inc. (Director Liabilities in connection with Environmental Costs) 9 3. Re Moore, 2013 ONCA 769 11 4. Re Dilollo, 2013 ONCA 550 13 5. Re Schreyer.