In a recent decision, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice recognised the English law schemes of arrangement of the Syncreon group under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, RSC 1985, c C-36 (“CCAA“). This was the first time a Canadian court was asked to determine whether proceedings under Part 26 of the Companies Act 2006 (the “Companies Act“) could be recognised as “foreign proceedings” under Part IV of the CCAA.

Human resources practitioners are often called upon to advise and lead employee consultation in a business restructure. Sometimes, a legal review of the statutory consultation notice issued under section 189(3) of the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (the LRA) is also undertaken.

It has become a common phenomenon that applications are brought to put into business rescue, companies which are already in liquidation – sometimes long after the liquidation commenced.

This raises some interesting questions about whether employees and trade unions remain affected persons for the purposes of such a business rescue application, given that in terms of section 38 of the Insolvency Act (24 of 1936), all employment contracts are deemed to be cancelled within 45 days after the appointment of a final liquidator.

Section 131(6)

On January 8, 2018, Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) introduced the Bankruptcy Venue Reform Act of 2017. The bill would require that individual debtors file in the district where their domicile, residence, or principal assets are located, and would require corporate debtors to file in the district in which their principal assets or their principal place of business is located.

Despite a modest uptick in recent years, it is still a relatively rare occasion for the Supreme Court of the United States to tackle issues involving bankruptcy. This term, however, the Supreme Court has granted certiorari in two bankruptcy appeals that could have important consequences for the financial community. In FTI Consulting, Inc. v. Merit Management Group, LP, the Court will define the parameters of the safe harbor of Bankruptcy Code section 546(e), which excludes certain financial transactions from the debtor’s avoidance powers. In PEM Entities LLC v.

Since the inception of business rescue, misconduct by business rescue practitioners (BRPs) has been one of the biggest causes of complaint (and headaches) by creditors. More and more disgruntled creditors and other affected persons are pursuing the removal of rogue BRPs of companies in business rescue.

In terms of section 139 of the Companies Act 71 of 2008, a BRP may only be removed from office in terms of section 130, or as provided for in section 139. Furthermore, only the court is authorised to remove a BRP from office, both in terms of sections 130 and 139.

Significant innovations have been introduced in Italy by Law Decree no. 83 of 27 June 2015 (entitledUrgent Measures on Insolvency, Civil and Procedural Matters and the Organization and Functioning of Judicial Commissioners (the "Decree").The Decree was converted by the Italian Parliament into statutory law no.132 enacted 6 August 2015 (the "Conversion Law").
  

UK PRA publishes SS9/14:

An interesting judgment was delivered by the Honourable J Majiki on 19 of November 2013 in the Eastern Cape High Court, Port Elizabeth. The first and second applicants under case 3521/2012 were ABSA Bank Limited and Maria Ramos respectively.

Introduction