After 10 sanctioned Restructuring Plans (and one declined) it is evident that valuation is key to supporting the court’s decision making process and a focal point for potential challenge.

From 1 November 2022, the Official Receivers' deposit fee to be paid by petitioners initiating a creditor bankruptcy or compulsory liquidation proceeding is to increase. For creditor bankruptcy petitions, the fee will increase from £990 to £1,500 and for compulsory liquidation proceedings it will rise from £1,600 to £2,600. These increases are the first since April 2016 and are reported to have been introduced at least in part due to the relatively low level of recent insolvencies.

Two and a half years after the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, and on the verge of an economic recession, important developments are emerging in Spanish insolvency law.

BITE SIZE KNOW HOW FROM THE ENGLISH COURTS

Injunctions

On September 19, 2022, a panel of three appellate judges for the 3rd Circuit heard oral argument in a closely-watched case, In re LTL Management LLC, Case No. 22-2003.

Bankruptcy law has its own set of rules. When a company files for Chapter 11 reorganization under the Bankruptcy Code, the filing triggers an automatic stay that prohibits any attempts by creditors to exercise control over any property of the bankruptcy estate; the bankruptcy court then has jurisdiction over all property of the estate, which includes all property “wherever located and by whomever held.” See 11 U.S.C. §541(a); 28 U.S.C. §1334(e)(1).

In its decision in Ghanashyam Mishra & Sons Pvt. Ltd. v. Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd., a bench of three Judges of the Supreme Court  held that  “Harmonious construction of clause (10) of Section 3 of the I&B Code read with clauses (20) and (21) of Section 5 thereof would reveal, that even a claim in respect of dues arising under any law for the time being in force and payable to the Central Government, any State Government or any local authority would come within the ambit   of ‘operational debt’.

The director of an insolvent company appealed a restriction order made against him. The order prevented the appellant from acting as a company director or secretary for a 5-year period under section 819 of the Companies Act 2014 (the “2014 Act”). The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal as the appellant failed to satisfy the court that he acted responsibly in the conduct of the company’s affairs.

Introduction

The restructuring plan regime - including, for the first time under English law, cross-class cram down - was introduced in June 2020. Our experience with restructuring plans proposed to-date has been that the English courts have (for the most part) implemented this new tool flexibly, pragmatically and commercially.