A recent English Court of Appeal judgment has resolved some doubts regarding the use of adjudication procedures in insolvency.
On 22 November 2016, the European Commission published a draft directive on insolvency, restructuring and second chance. In this briefing we consider the proposals and what it means for European insolvency and for the UK.
On 22 November 2016, the European Commission published a draft directive on insolvency, restructuring and second chance (the Proposals).
What are the Proposals? The Proposals have three main parts:
Summary
English insolvency law is about to change, making it harder for IT suppliers to stop supplying when a customer goes into an insolvency procedure. The aim is to help administrators and others to secure the supply of IT products and services that might be needed to rescue failing businesses.
Summary
Our experience working on restructurings across Europe and Asia has given us an appreciation for the value of preparedness. Businesses encountering financial difficulties — whether arising from turbulent financial markets, an unforeseen crisis, increasing or burdensome regulation or competitive pressure — often find their survival may depend on how well prepared they were for the unique pressures a restructuring event brings.
France has amended the safeguard procedure by which debtors facing difficulties may restructure their financial arrangements.
The judge responsible for the Lehman bankruptcy proceedings in the United States has found that the provisions of the US bankruptcy code that exempt swap agreements and master netting agreements from the application of the Code's automatic stay and other relevant provisions do not permit a party to an ISDA Master Agreement to suspend performance under Section 2 (a) (iii) of the master agreement.
New restructuring legislation was recently adopted in Belgium and comes into force on 1 April 2009. The Act of 31 January 2009 on the continuity of undertakings (the Act on Continuity) aims to replace the existing judicial composition procedure (concordat judiciaire/ gerechtelijk akkoord) with a more effective and flexible restructuring instrument.
The key features of the Act on Continuity are:
In a consultation commenced on 7 July 2022, the UK Insolvency Service is proposing to implement two “model laws” adopted by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).
The National Security and Investment Act 2021 (the Act) comes into force on 4 January 2022. The Act sets out the UK’s new national security screening regime. The Act replaces, and significantly extends, the UK government’s power to investigate and intervene in transactions which pose, or could pose, threats to the UK’s national security (see our earlier related blog post).
The financial loss and the uncertainty caused by the pandemic continues to affect business globally, and an increase in corporate insolvency is widely anticipated. Arbitration is an effective dispute resolution mechanism, but a counterparty entering insolvency proceedings can be disruptive. We recently wrote about insolvency being one of the key trends in international arbitration in 2021.