Elizabeth McColm, Brian Bolin and Mitchell Mengden, Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison

This is an extract from the 2024 edition of GRR's the Americas Restructuring Review. The whole publication is available here.

Monitoring Winding up Petitions

While not an everyday occurrence, a company being issued with a winding up petition is an eventuality that all providers of finance, whether on a secured or unsecured basis, will prepare for.

From a contractual perspective, facility agreements will include specific monitoring information covenants as part of the core relationship housekeeping, supported by a hard backstop of event of default triggers, with rights for debt acceleration, and (if applicable) security enforcement operating in tandem from that point.

In this week’s TGIF, we examine the recent case of Re Eliana Construction and Developing Group Pty Ltd [2023] VSC 639 which considers guarantor subrogation rights in insolvency scenarios.

Key takeaways

A free-standing moratorium for financially distressed but ultimately viable companies was introduced in 2020. It is sometimes called a Part A1 moratorium, after the part of the Insolvency Act 1986 which provides for it.

Routes to Reorganisation

A Comparative Study of the Insolvency Procedures Available in the United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United States and England and Wales

First published in the INSOL Restructuring Alert (November 2023)

Introduction

The High Court in Singapore has ordered the winding up of Hodlnaut Pte Ltd, a Singapore based cryptocurrency lending and borrowing platform, as it was cash flow insolvent given that the cryptocurrency funds held by the company from various creditors count as ‘debts’ within the meaning of s125(1)(e) of the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act 2018 (IRDA).

On 30 October 2023, the Italian Supreme Court issued its judgment in case No. 29998/2023 detailing certain principles applicable to the claw back of remittances on bank accounts and to the ineffectiveness of financial guarantees granted under Legislative Decree No. 170 of 21 May 2004 (the “Legislative Decree”) in case of bankruptcy. In particular, (a) on the one hand, the Italian Supreme Court confirmed that a bank remittance cannot be clawed back when it does not reduce the outstanding debt of the bankrupt account holder durably (i.e.

On 12 July 2023, the Legislative Council enacted the Bankruptcy and Companies Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Ordinance 2023, a transformative initiative to modernise the filing and notice processes under the Bankruptcy Ordinance (Cap 6) and the Companies (Winding-Up and Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance (Cap 32). With the amendments, the Official Receiver’s Office (ORO) introduces the Electronic Submission System (ESS) to bring the ORO and insolvencies into the 21st century.

Changes effective from 29 December 2023

The UAE Gazette of 31 October 2023 includes Federal Decree-Law No. 51 of 2023 on Financial Restructuring and Bankruptcy (the “New Law”). Here are some highlights:

- A section of the Courts is designated to monitor and administer bankruptcy and restructuring proceedings. This section is chaired by a Court of Appeal Judge.

- Resolution of claims between debtors and creditors is encouraged; for example, by providing wider scope to debtors seeking Protective Composition.