“Once again, I’m not quite sure what that means.” – Bobby Boucher, The Waterboy
Cases analyzing rights under indentures – and the transactions holders and issuers contemplate (or not) under indentures – continue to gain attention in the restructuring world. Some of those cases involve section 316(b) of the Trust Indenture Act (see our own blog’s recent posts) and payment rights under indentures. Others, such
Providing notice to creditors of actions that could affect their interests is one of a debtor’s most important responsibilities. Absent proper notice, relief requested by a debtor that may be warranted could nonetheless be denied. Indeed, the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure set out pages and pages of rules regarding the time periods, form, and content of notices that a debtor, among others, must follow. As the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Colorado recently reminded us in the
“Startin’ to feel like there’s nothin’ left to talk about but the, money, money
Bill collectors keep comin’ . . . to get money, money”
-Curtis James Jackson, III – “Money”
Seeking to recharacterize a debt claim as an equity contribution to the debtor through the equitable powers of the bankruptcy court (something we’ve written about quite a bit in our blog) is one way to reduce creditor claims against the bankruptcy estate, but only in certain circuits.
Overview
The new German stabilizing and out of court restructuring regime came into effect on 1 January 2021. The "Stabilization and Restructuring Framework of Companies Act", known as StaRUG1, heralds a new phase in the German restructuring landscape, introducing a framework of tools including a new restructuring plan, which will enable debtors to restructure and cram down minority creditors outside of German insolvency proceedings for the first time.
The new UK legislation for companies in financial difficulty represents a fundamental shift in approach to restructuring in Europe and adds an important new tool to the UK restructuring framework. The availability of a plan proposed under the new Part 26A of the Companies Act 2006 (a “Restructuring Plan”) will undoubtedly change how many distressed companies seek to address their financial difficulties. However, until case law is developed, there will remain considerable uncertainty as to how the Restructuring Plan will work in practice.
Before ingesting too much holiday cheer, we encourage you to consider a recent opinion from the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Weil Bankruptcy Blog connoisseurs will recall that, in May 2019, we wrote on the Southern District of New York’s decision in In re Tribune Co. Fraudulent Conveyance Litigation, Case No. 12-2652, 2019 WL 1771786 (S.D.N.Y. April 23, 2019) (Cote, J.) (“Tribune I”).