You will be pleased, I hope, to hear that in this blog I shall largely be steering the referendum itself a wide berth; this is not because the prospect of Brexit would not impact greatly on insolvency law and practice (it undoubtedly would) but because I have already blogged on that topic in March and issued press releases on it in so far as it affects business decision making under the R3 banner, but mainly
The effect of EU law on UK insolvencies is, as a general rule, limited to cross-border issues. Within the EU, the EC Regulation on Insolvency Proceedings governs all the main jurisdictional and choice of law questions that arise in international insolvencies (with the exception of the insolvencies of banks, insurers and certain investment companies).
Introduction
Introduction
The UK is a well-established jurisdiction for cross border insolvencies, both within the EU and the rest of the world. The main piece of EU legislation that governs this area of law is the EC Council Regulation 1346/2000 ("the Insolvency Regulation"). Ultimately, this legislation facilitates the recognition of insolvency proceedings that span multiple jurisdictions. The Insolvency Regulation sets out the correct jurisdiction in cross border situations and, crucially, makes it mandatory for Member States to recognise insolvency proceedings in other EU countries.
The statistics show that over 10,000 English limited companies operate in Germany. The company is registered in the Companies Register in the UK, but has a branch active in Germany, which is registered in German Company registries. On 10 December 2015 the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) decided on the question whether the liability of the director of English registered Kornhaas Montage und Dienstleistung Ltd (‘KMD’), which was subjected to German insolvency proceedings, should be determined by English law or by German law.
Although the EU Insolvency Regulation and the UNCITRAL Model Law have been with us for some time, decisions involving the court’s recognition of foreign proceedings continue to evolve and will – of necessity – turn on the specific facts of every case. We investigate two recent decisions which came up with very different results.
The background – Re OGX Petroloeo E Gas S.A. [2016] EWHC 25
The past few months have seen some interesting developments in legislative and regulatory requirements in the restructuring and insolvency world. We explore a number of them in this article.
SBEEA – reports on director conduct from 6 April
The Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 (Commencement No 4), Transitional and Savings Provisions Regulations 2016 (SI 2016/321) were made on 9 March 2016.
FagorBrandt, whose successor is the Brandt group, benefited from an exceptional and temporary support package, financed by the Economic and Social Development Fund, to help viable intermediate-sized enterprises experiencing economic difficulties and undergoing bankruptcy proceedings. As a result, it received two loans of €10 million in 2013 and €47.5 million in 2014 below market rates.