Gerät ein Unternehmen in die Krise oder gar in die Insolvenz stellen sich vielfältige Themen, auch steuerliche. Unsere neue Blogserie gibt den Überblick.

Unternehmen in der Krise haben häufig andere Sorgen als das Thema Steuern. Die steuerlichen Belange zu vernachlässigen kann aber sowohl vor wie auch in der Krise fatale Konsequenzen haben. Diese liegen im Steuerstrafrecht und in Haftungsrisiken – auch für die Beteiligten persönlich –, die wiederum den Sanierungserfolg torpedieren und selbst zur Existenzbedrohung werden können.

In this note, we provide a high-level overview of key restructuring cases from last year in the US, Asia Pacific and Australia and consider the outlook in 2024 for restructuring transactions. 

US

Thames Water is making waves once again with renewed discussion around a potential special administration for the beleaguered water company. We wrote last year about reports that the government and Ofwat were making contingency plans for Thames Water after its failure to raise shareholder funding to bridge a funding gap with nearly £1.4bn of its borrowings due to mature this year.

The Aldrich Pump Texas Two-Step bankruptcy may have survived dismissal at the bankruptcy court level, but now the asbestos claimants have appealed to the Fourth Circuit following Judge Whitley's approval of their motion for direct appeal.1

Publicly, Diamond Finance Co. (“Diamond”) provided car loans to individuals with less-than-stellar credit. While Diamond did have “some actual business,” its purpose “quickly became a front to lure unsuspecting investors.”

Introducción

En la edición de este mes de febrero destacamos dos interesantes sentencias de la Audiencia Provincial de Valencia:

In brief

On 18 January 2024, the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC) issued its decision in Re PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk [2024] SGHC(I) ("Re Garuda Indonesia"), which was the SICC's first decision on an application under the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency (as enacted in Singapore in the Third Schedule of the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act 2018 (2020 Rev Ed) ("Singapore Model Law")).

The Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo) recently launched a public consultation on its proposed enhancements to Singapore’s corporate restructuring and trading resumption frameworks. Proposed changes to the Mainboard Rules and Catalist Rules (collectively, the Listing Rules) include inclusion of a practice note to provide guidance to issuers with listed securities suspended from trading on the expectations of SGX RegCo and amendments to streamline the application process for resumption of trading for suspended issuers.

The background to this case stems from a High Court judgment in 2022, where exemplary damages were awarded against a receiver in the sum of €550,000. The damages were awarded after a receiver had taken possession of and sold certain properties without first obtaining a court order under the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009 (the “2009 Act”).

Is an administrator of a company an "officer" of that company? The Supreme Court's answer in a recent employment judgment (with potentially broad application) was a resounding "no," which will undoubtedly reassure insolvency practitioners faced with potential criminal liability for carrying out duties conferred on an "officer" of the company.