The absolute priority rule [Fn. 1] has been a problem for businesses in bankruptcy—for a very long time! The rule dates back to at least 1899, when the U.S. Supreme Court prevents certain shareholder actions “until the interests of unsecured creditors have been preserved.” [Fn. 2]

Since then, the U.S. Supreme Court has followed a long and relatively straight road for the absolute priority rule. And the rule has shown staying power, along that road.

The Kemper/Lumbermens saga

To refresh everyone’s recollection, this is a report from Business Insurance from March 14, 2010:

Peruvian legislation does not formally encompass the possibility of entering into pre-pack agreements with creditors. Nevertheless, it does include other mechanisms that allow companies to reach agreements with creditors prior to the commencement of an insolvency proceeding. In this article, we will provide a introduction to this topic and to insolvency proceedings in Peru.

I. Introduction

Climate risk is difficult for large corporations to mitigate and is increasingly a C-suite agenda item. In this article, experts from FTI Consulting’s Power, Renewables & Energy Transition (“PRET”) practice draw upon their experience in climate risk-related bankruptcy, dispute advisory, restructuring and resource strategies to summarize the regulatory, operational and financial impacts of recent extreme weather events on electric utilities. This article will discuss the implications of strengthening physical and financial asset performance in a rapidly evolving electric grid.

Notre contribution précédente comprenait les propos introductifs portant sur la réforme du droit de l’insolvabilité, entrée en vigueur ce 1er septembre 2023. Comme indiqué, la présente contribution porte sur un élément clé de cette réforme.

La révision du paysage de l’insolvabilité n’a pas épargné le concept du transfert d’entreprise, qui en constitue l’un des piliers.

Le transfert de l'entreprise peut intervenir à deux stades : dans le cadre d’une procédure de réorganisation judiciaire publique, mais également dans le cadre d’une préparation silencieuse à la faillite.

In the current economic climate, more and more companies are getting into financial difficulties, informal workouts by debtor companies, with support from certain creditors, seem to be increasingly common.

Under the Insolvency Act 1986 (IA 1986), office-holders are given wide powers but they are subject to the control of the court. In order to allow insolvency practitioners to carry out their duties efficiently and without having constantly to look over their shoulders, this control has always been exercised with a light touch. In recent years there have been several important cases examining these issues.[1]

ICC Judge Mullen’s decision in Sunset Ltd & Anor v Al-Hindi [2023] EWHC 2443 (Ch) emphasises the importance of ensuring the existence of a debt capable of forming the basis of a bankruptcy petition at the time of presentation.

The petition in this case was presented against Mr Al-Hindi by Sunset Limited and Morville Limited on 23 June 2022 based on his failure to comply with statutory demands dated 29 March 2022 claiming £248,750 said to be due by way of unpaid rent under leases of four London properties.

The Singapore High Court has again confirmed that a winding-up application concerning a disputed debt that is subject to an arbitration agreement will be dismissed if the arbitration agreement is prima facie valid and covers the dispute. This prima facie standard of review was first formulated three years ago by the Singapore Court of Appeal in AnAn Group (Singapore) Pte Ltd v VTB Bank (Public Joint Stock Company) [2020] SCGA 33.

The Package Travel Regulations (“PTRs”), which came into force in 2018, have been tested significantly in recent years with failures such as Thomas Cook and Monarch, in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic.