Nearly three years after the High Court decision on the case of BNY Corporate Trustee Services Ltd v Eurosail UK 2007 – 3BL PLC and others was handed down, the case has run its course in the Supreme Court. The case, which considers the correct interpretation of the balance-sheet insolvency test in section 123(2) of the Insolvency Act 1986, is of importance to insolvency practitioners, financial institutions, legal advisers, company directors and companies.
Court of Appeal decision
The UK Supreme Court today delivered an important decision on the meaning of the so-called 'balance sheet insolvency test' in s.123(2) of the Insolvency Act 1986 (UK) (BNY Corporate Trustee Services Limited v Eurosail 2007-3BL PLC [2013] UKSC 28 ("Eurosail")).
The Chancellor announced in his budget that the Crown is to be re-instated as a preferential creditor in insolvency, reversing the changes brought in by The Enterprise Act 2002.
On April 20, the House Committee on Financial Services held a hearing to discuss public policy issues raised by last month’s report of court-appointed bankruptcy examiner for Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (Lehman Brothers), Mr. Anton R. Valukas. The Committee heard testimony from the following witnesses:
Panel One:
Restructures of financially distressed firms often involve debt-equity exchanges. The concept is straightforward: the company issues equity to its lenders in exchange for their cancellation of some of the company’s debt. The company’s debt burden and interest payment expenses are reduced and its balance sheet is strengthened.
The failure of an FDIC-insured commercial bank, savings association or industrial loan company (collectively referred to as a “bank”) is traumatic and economically devastating to both stakeholders in the institution, as well as the local economy served by that entity.
On September 6, 2010, Schutt Sports ("Schutt" or the "Debtor") filed petitions for bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. This post will look briefly at the nature of Schutt's business, why it filed for bankruptcy and what it hopes to achieve while in bankruptcy.
Straining under a debt burden in excess of $1 billion, TerreStar Networks filed a petition for Chapter 11 protection with a New York bankruptcy court on Tuesday. Known formerly as Motient Corp., TerreStar is in the midst of deploying a hybrid terrestrial/mobile satellite network that would serve rural and other hard-to-reach areas in the U.S.
On October 31, 2010, Wolverine Tube, Inc. ("Wolverine") filed petitions for bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. According to the Declaration of Wolverine's President in Support of Debtors' Petitions (the "Declaration"), the company's bankruptcy filing resulted from several factors, most notably a drop in cash due to volatility in commodity prices and high debt obligations. See Declaration at pp. 2-3.
The current cycle of Chapter 11 corporate bankruptcies involves many cases where the debtor seeks to achieve a balance-sheet restructuring by converting debt into equity. When consensus cannot be achieved, junior stakeholders (i.e., second lien creditors, unsecured creditors and/or equity) will often contest plan confirmation on the grounds that the proposed plan provides more than 100% recovery to the senior creditors. Valuation plays the central role in these cases.