On December 20, 2022, the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) issued a notice of request for information (RFI) on the regulation of biotechnology on behalf of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
1. はじめに
2022 年 11 月 25 日、株式会社SMBC キャピタル・パートナーズが、本邦最大の鶏卵業者で会社更生手続下にあるイセ食品株式会社の事業支援スポンサーとなることが発表された 。同月 30 日には、裁判所により、同スポンサーの代表者がイセ食品株式会社の事業家管財人に選任され 、本邦最大鶏卵業者の事業再生のための大きな一歩が踏み出されることとなった。
近年の会社更生手続においては、裁判所の監督の下、更生会社の事業支援スポンサーが選定されることは一般的な運用ともいいうるが、本件の会社更生手続は、イセ食品株式会社が自ら会社更生手続開始を申し立てたものではなく、一部の株主及び債 権者による申立てにより開始されたという特異な経過を辿っている。
以下では、申立て債権者のイニシアティブにより、債務者事業を維持し、再生につなげる手法の実例として、本件の経緯を概観することとする。
2.イセ食品グループの会社更生
A crash in the cryptocurrency industry started this past spring, causing a significant number of cryptocurrency exchanges and related entities to seek bankruptcy protection, including the recent filing of one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, FTX. The volatility in the industry continues, with the subsequent filing of the cryptocurrency firm BlockFi and the crypto-mining company Core Scientific.
Crypto Basics
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently affirmed a bankruptcy court’s judgment in favor of a debtor who sought to avoid a judgment lien under California’s homestead exemption law.
In so ruling, the Ninth Circuit held that, when a judgment lien impairs a debtor’s state-law homestead exemption, the Bankruptcy Code requires courts to determine the exemption to which the debtor would have been entitled in the absence of the lien.
- Companies Seek More Liquidity – As access to capital may decrease in the coming year, companies on the periphery of needing more operations income are reaching out to lenders to capture the full amount of capital they can borrow currently.
- Correction in Valuations of Companies Without Apparent Underlying Assets – Investors are scrutinizing the valuations of companies more closely, particularly those whose probability of success is tied to nascent products or services.
- Operations Right-Sizing is Underway – Companies are
On September 8, 2022, a three-judge panel in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (the “Second Circuit”) reversed the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (the “District Court”) when it determined that lenders of a syndicated loan facility to Revlon, Inc.
The latest amendments to the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure (the “Bankruptcy Rules”) took effect on December 1, 2022. This collection of modifications may be broadly divided into two categories: (i) amendments and a new rule promulgated to account for the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 (the “SBRA”), and (ii) amendments clarifying or consolidating non-SBRA specific Bankruptcy Rules.
SBRA-Related Amendments
In Company Law the will of the majority shareholders usually wins out. This is because the majority tend to be in possession of the most company capital. As such, it is the majority who “should” triumph when it comes to managing the company’s direction. Indeed, the rights of minority shareholders set out in the Companies Act 2006 (“CA 2006”) are small in number. They include:
There have been some very gloomy stories in the press over the last week or so about rising company insolvency rates. All rather unwelcome during the season of goodwill.
Everyone knows that British businesses are facing a hugely difficult time with challenges coming from all directions – including high energy bills, rising interest rates, strikes, geopolitical uncertainty etc. etc.
But amidst the gloom there are some positives. For example:
We have identified four judgments from 2022 which are significant for those in the private equity sector and may have particular relevance for sponsors, shareholders, management teams and/or appointees to boards. In this overview we summarise the key points and some of the practical implications.
The decisions we address are: