Die EU-Kommission hat einen Richtlinienentwurf u.a. zur verpflichtenden Aufnahme eines „Pre-pack-Verfahrens“ in die nationalen Insolvenzgesetze vorgelegt.

In this quick guide we focus on working capital and consider ways a business can seek to preserve all important liquidity through challenging and unpredictable periods. Supply chain issues, the battle against inflationary price hikes and other external stressors mean businesses globally are being challenged. What can senior management do in order to manage and mitigate risk to a company's financial health and stay away from the edge?

Practical Tips

Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal (CFA) recently handed down its judgment in the case of Guy Kwok-Hung Lam v Tor Asia Credit Master Fund LP [2023] HKCFA 9, upholding the Court of Appeal's earlier decision that a creditor's bankruptcy petition presented in Hong Kong should not be allowed to proceed where the petitioned debt is disputed and arises from an agreement with an exclusive jurisdiction clause (EJC) in favour of a foreign court.

In brief

In Avanti Communications Ltd [2023] EWHC 940 (Ch), the English court revisited the vexed issue of fixed and floating charges. Notably, it is the first significant case since the landmark decision in Re Spectrum Plus Ltd [2005] UKHL 41 to do so.

The distinction between fixed and floating charges is economically important and affects the recoveries a secured creditor may expect to receive in an insolvent liquidation of the security provider.

In the recent case of Re Avanti Communications Limited (in administration) (Re Avanti), the court considered the nature of fixed and floating charges. Whether a charge is fixed or floating has implications for both lenders and administrators in terms of determining to what extent a chargor can recover from the charged assets and to what extent a borrower can deal with its assets.

Background of case:

Dishonest debtors are increasingly daring to use court proceedings to fictitiously dispose of funds to pay their debts. They believe that if they obtain a final judgment that orders them, for example, to pay an amount to a third party, the creditor will not be able to contest the payment. But is the creditor completely defenceless? With this article, we are kicking off a series on what to pay attention to and how to react when a debtor initiates court proceedings that may render the debtor insolvent.

When a federal court approves a [bankruptcy] plan allowing someone to put its hands into another person’s pockets, the person with the pockets is entitled to be fully heard and to have legitimate objections addressed.[Fn. 1]

Pop Quiz Question:

Does Insurer, in the following facts, have standing to object to Debtor’s Chapter 11 plan?

Debtor is in bankruptcy because of asbestos lawsuits.

Debtor proposes a Chapter 11 plan that is supported by all constituencies—except one:

Managing the financial health of a business to ensure it continues to be viable and successful can be challenging, particularly in today’s economic environment.

June 2023

Contents

There are many enforcement options available to commercial landlords in England & Wales, to recover rent arrears due under a lease from a business tenant. Some of those options are based in contract and governed by the terms of the individual lease itself, such as a power to forfeit or damages for breach, whilst some of those options are based in statute such as the Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery regime.

Summary