Legislation seeks to balance debtor and creditor needs and help businesses and investors operate with confidence in the Middle East.
On 11 June 2019, the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) introduced a new insolvency law (DIFC Insolvency Law No. 1 of 2019 and associated DIFC Insolvency Regulations 2019), which became effective on 13 June.
This article was first published in Digital Asset.
“Immutable” is a term that is frequently used when people talk about blockchain and the benefit of using this technology for record-keeping.
On 15 July 2019, UNCITRAL formally approved a new model law (linked here) for enterprise group insolvencies on how to administer group insolvencies across multiple jurisdictions. A lesson learnt from the 2008 global financial crisis when we saw the collapse of Lehman Brothers was the absence of legislation that dealt with group insolvencies. This has been identified as a major gap in UNCITRAL’s model law on cross-border insolvency (MLCBI).
In Re Southwest Pacific Bauxite (HK) Ltd [2018] 2 HKLRD 449, the Honourable Mr Justice Harris held that a petition to wind up a company on the ground of insolvency should “generally be dismissed” where:
(a) | a company disputes the debt relied on by the petitioner; |
(b) | the contract under which the debt is alleged to arise contains an arbitration clause that governs any dispute relating to the debt; and |
(c) |
This article appeared in Gulf Business on 22 June 2019
In a region where there has traditionally been an inherent stigma attached to business failure, the inevitable by-product is a decreased appetite for risk.
However, as the UAE’s economy has matured and become more global in its outlook, a more sophisticated and less risk-averse insolvency regime is required - one that can deal with volatile economic cycles and at the same time promote an entrepreneurial business environment.
Financial institutions continue to prepare for the anticipated cessation of the publication of the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) benchmark after the end of 2021 and its replacement with “risk-free” overnight rates, including reformed SONIA (for sterling) and the new SOFR rate (for U.S. dollars). Transitioning affected financial products to the new rates and amending legacy books is a massive project for any sizable institution.
Rachel Albanese and Oksana Koltko Rosaluk, DLA Piper LLP (US)
This is an extract from the 2020 edition of the Americas Restructuring Review, published by Global Restructuring Review. The whole publication is available here.
In summary
SUMMARY
On August 20, 2018, the National Bankruptcy Conference (the "NBC") submitted a letter (the "Letter") to representatives of the House Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform and the House Committee on the Judiciary that proposed certain technical and substantive amendments to chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code. Chapter 15, which is patterned on the 1997 UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency (the "Model Law"), was enacted in 2005 and establishes procedures governing cross-border bankruptcy and insolvency proceedings. To date, the Model Law has been enacted by the U.S.
Bankruptcy partner Brian Hermann and counsel Lauren Shumejda co-authored the chapter, “U.S.: New Strategies for Getting Paid: Recent Investment Fund Activity in Chapter 11,” in the 2019 edition of the Global Restructuring Review (GRR) Special Report, “The Restructuring Review of the Americas.”