On 14 October 2009 the Government announced a major change to the way in which company buy-backs of debt will be taxed. The change may be relevant to any corporate debt buy-back where debt is being purchased at less than face value, including the exercise of a post-enforcement call option in a securitisation.
The global financial crisis has resulted in many loans trading at below par value. This presents borrowers with an opportunity to purchase their own debt and, therefore, extinguish the debt at a reduced cost.
The shipping industry was arguably one of the hardest hit by the downturn that spread around the world late last year. The severe shipping slump, evidenced by a 93.5 per cent fall in the Baltic Dry Index between the summer of 2008 and December 2008, inevitably led to insolvencies of shipping companies across the globe1. This article briefly considers the unique challenges that insolvency practitioners face when balancing insolvency procedures against the application of maritime law.
The highly publicized announcement by Nortel Networks Corporation (together with its subsidiaries and affiliates, “Nortel”) of its intention to sell certain of its businesses has provided an opportunity for the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to settle the state of the law in Ontario (and, hopefully, across Canada) on the sale of all or substantially all of an entity’s assets within a Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (“CCAA”) proceedings.
Introduction
Summary
Introduction
The ongoing financial crisis has not left France untouched. The number of company insolvencies rose considerably in 2013: while judicial rehabilitation proceedings remained stable, liquidation proceedings increased by 4% from 2012, and “safeguard” proceedings (a procedure inspired by “Chapter 11” proceedings in the United States) increased by 9%. Pre-insolvency proceedings such as judicially-supervised conciliation and ad hoc mediation reached an all-time high, 24% over 2012.
Debtor-in-possession financing (“DIP financing”), which is new short-term financing obtained by an insolvent company after the commencement of an insolvency proceeding, is a recurring theme for two primary reasons. First, insolvent companies are generally desperate for an immediate infusion of cash to sustain operations. Second, creditors will usually provide such financing only on a super-priority basis, jumping ahead of existing secured creditors of the insolvent company.
Fixed and floating charges – why are they important?
They give a lender a higher position in the queue for the net proceeds of a borrower’s assets in the event of a borrower’s insolvency.
Retention of key employees is a primary concern of any company that is seeking to survive a restructuring process as a viable operating business. The question is how to ensure that employee retention payments fairly balance the goal of retaining employees who are key to the restructuring against the financial impact on other stakeholders of the implementation of such a program. Beyond that, in the case of a cross-border restructuring, one must be aware of the difference between Canadian and US law on the issue of employee retention.
Introduction