On 10 October, the Dubai Court of First Instance issued a potentially ground-breaking judgment in respect of directors’ liability in the context of corporate insolvency.
In particular, in the matter of the liquidation of the public company Marka PJSC (“Marka”), the Court held the company’s board of directors and managers personally and jointly liable for the company’s outstanding debts, totalling close to AED 450 million.
Seit dem 1. Januar 2019 haben Schuldner bei Vorliegen bestimmter Voraussetzungen die Möglichkeit, mittels eines Gesuchs zu verlangen, dass eine ungerechtfertigte Betreibung auf dem Betreibungsregisterauszug nicht ersichtlich ist. In der Zwischenzeit hat das Bundesgericht erste Entscheide gefällt, welche die die Tragweite der seit 2019 in Kraft stehenden Bestimmung präzisiert.
The coronavirus pandemic posed a significant challenge to the financial health of businesses across the UK. A sector additionally at the mercy of the markets following the easing of lockdown restrictions is the energy industry, with the wholesale price of natural gas (measured on a pence per therm basis) having risen dramatically from around 50p/therm in January 2021 to over 200p/therm during the first few weeks of October 2021.
The new 2021 year brought in various changes to insolvency laws, which included the introduction of the Small Business Restructuring (SBR) process to assist small businesses in restructuring their debts. This new regime provides an opportunity for eligible small businesses which are financially distressed, but otherwise viable, to continue trading into 2021 and beyond. However, a question that we have recently been faced with is whether a company that is a corporate trustee of a trust, also known as a trustee company, is able to avail itself of the SBR process.
UK REIT Horizon Scanner Q4 2021
UK REIT Horizon Scanner Q4 2021
Key Issues
Key issues coming up for UK Main Market REITs in corporate, financial regulatory, planning, real estate, securities law and regulation and tax1 in England (including retained EU law2).
Issue/status/timing: New developments since our March 2021 edition are shown in green text. Impact: urgency/impact rating for REITs admitted to London Stock Exchange Main Market (including the Specialist Fund Segment3)
In Pharmagona Limited v Taheri,(1) the High Court refused to seal and issue a contempt application as the breach, if it had occurred, was only technical, and it was therefore inappropriate for the application to succeed.
Facts
This week’s TGIF considers a recent decision of the Federal Court where a company was found to be ‘insolvent’ for the purposes of assessing breach and termination of a contract, despite its subsequent survival and ongoing trading.
Key Takeaways
When it comes to corporate restructuring, the focus tends to remain firmly on the dollars and cents while the immigration consequences for the company’s foreign national employees are sometimes the last items considered, if considered at all. However, these immigration consequences can be quite significant and can include the loss of critical employees or lead to employer sanctions if employees are employed without valid work authorization.
The Rating (Coronavirus) and Directors Disqualification (Dissolved Companies) Bill (the Bill) is, at the time of writing, at second reading stage in the House of Lords and progressing quickly towards becoming law later this year.
In a landmark bankruptcy case judgment issued on 10 October 2021 the Dubai Court of First Instance has held the directors and managers of an insolvent Dubai-based PJSC to be personally liable to pay the outstanding debts of the previously listed company (now in liquidation) pursuant to the UAE Bankruptcy Law. This decision represents a very significant milestone in the UAE insolvency landscape since the enactment of the Bankruptcy Law in late 2016, being the first known instance of a case where such personal liability has been ordered.