In this second part of our blog exploring the various issues courts need to address in applying the Bankruptcy Code to cryptocurrency, we expand upon our roadmap.
Analysis and Commentary on the Insolvency Statistics Q2 2023
The quarterly insolvency statistics for April to June 2023 show that corporate insolvencies across the UK1 are at a 14-year high.
Increased insolvencies appear to be continuing with the monthly statistics for both August and September 2023, showing corporate insolvency numbers were higher than the same month last year. July’s figures showed a slight decrease year on year.
In a case that unfolded on May 1, 2018, the Supreme Court of New South Wales ordered the winding up of Day & Night Online Transport Pty Ltd. This was ordered because of the company’s failure to comply with a statutory demand from a creditor, as outlined in section 459C(2)(a) of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). However, what followed was a legal journey that ultimately resulted in the rescission of the winding-up order, shedding light on critical aspects of corporate insolvency and the legal processes involved.
Background: The Winding-Up Order
It has long been established that where the circumstances in which funds are advanced by a shareholder to the company in which they own shares is unclear, the court must consider the "surrounding circumstances" when determining how to characterize the advance. Historically, "surrounding circumstances" were understood to be the circumstances extant at the time the transaction was effected: (e.g., Ghassemvand v. Premium Weatherstripping Inc., 2017 BCCA 309 [Ghassemvand]).
Following its acquisition of the Regal cinema chain in the US in 2018, Cineworld, with its English-incorporated parent company, London premium listing and status as a household name in the UK cinema industry, became a truly transatlantic business. Add that to its businesses in Central and Eastern Europe and Israel, and Cineworld is one of the largest cinema chains in the world, operating in 10 countries with 672 sites and 8,181 screens.
In Svenhard’s Swedish Bakery v. United States Bakery, Bk. No. 19-15277, 2023 WL 5541420 (9th Cir. Aug. 29, 2023), the Ninth Circuit held that a settlement agreement that resolved an employer’s withdrawal liability to a multiemployer pension fund was not an executory contract that could be assumed and assigned to a third-party when that employer subsequently filed for bankruptcy. The decision is instructive for multiemployer funds and employers that negotiate settlement agreements to resolve these types of liabilities.
Background
Die Implementierung von ESG-Vorgaben im Krisenfrüherkennungssystem und deren Einhaltung ist ein (gewichtiger) Bestandteil zum krisenresilienten Unternehmen.
The implementation, just over a year ago, of Directive (EU) 2019/1023 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on Preventive Restructuring Frameworks, has meant a real Copernican shift in Spanish insolvency law. In particular in the field of pre-bankruptcy law, as it has established a new model based on Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Act in substantive law and UK Schemes of Arrangement in procedural law.
In brief
A selection of newly announced legislation and court decisions reinterpreting private law.
Draft law on preventive restructuring
Following the amendments made to the Insolvency Act 1967 (“IA 1967”) pursuant to the Insolvency (Amendment) Act 2023 (“Amendment Act”) which came into force on 6 October 2023, the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) (“Minister”) had issued the Insolvency (Amendment) Rules 2023 [P.U.