On 7th February 2024, Mr Justice Richards heard closing submissions in the English High Court for a contested sanction hearing for Aggregate Group’s Part 26A restructuring plan. This hearing presented one of the first opportunities to analyse how the Adler decision will affect restructuring plans going forward.
We are happy to present the tenth issue of our e-magazine – Trilegal Quarterly Roundup.
This issue features:
• Intellectual Property Diligences from an Insolvency Lens
• A Roadmap for 100% Biomass-based Energy Solutions
Conventional wisdom suggests there is no requirement that a debtor be “insolvent” to file a case under Chapter 11 or any other chapter of the Bankruptcy Code. No Code provision explicitly imposes such a requirement. Yet in 2023, several courts addressed the issue, and two courts directed the dismissal of massive Chapter 11 cases imposing what may fairly be characterized as an insolvency requirement.
Background
The collapse of Carillion in 2018 was arguably the UK's largest corporate insolvency in years, creating a lasting impact through job losses and the derailment of hundreds of public sector projects.
While there is a certain alignment between the proposed EU Directive on harmonisation of insolvency law and Luxembourg law, Luxembourg legislation will a priori need to be amended on several key points to be in line with the Proposal.
Preferences
Rules governing the avoidance of preferences (article 6 of the Proposal) find their equivalent in articles 445 and 446 of the Luxembourg Commercial Code.
Some marginal amendments are likely to be required, inter alia to reflect:
Restructuring Advisory Partner David Hudson considers the outlook for corporates
There’s no denying that the latest insolvency figures make for uncomfortable reading. In 2023, there were more than 25,000 registered company insolvencies, the highest annual number since 1993 and 14% higher than 2022.
Parties structuring certain financial transactions to comply with the Bankruptcy Code safe harbor provisions, including protections from the avoidance powers in Section 548 of the Bankruptcy Code,1 must be cognizant of recent case law prescribing the identity of counterparties within the ambit of the provisions.
Hip Hing Construction Company Ltd v Hong Kong Airlines Limited [2024] HKCFI 370, concerned clause 32.5 of the General Conditions of the Standard Form of Building Contract (2005 Private Edition) (GCC 32.5) which relates to retention money. It provides that the retention shall be held upon trust by the Employer for the Contractor and any Nominated Sub-Contractor or Nominated Supplier, subject to the rights of the Employer to have recourse to it for payment of any amount which he is entitled to under the Contract or at law or to deduct from it any sum owed to him by the Contractor.
The principles outlined in the European Commission's proposal for a Directive harmonising certain aspects of insolvency law is not expected to lead to extensive reform of Belgian rules since Belgian law already provides a clear set of rules that give creditors and trustees instruments to avoid contestable acts in the context of bankruptcy, which, in some cases, go further than the principles set out in this Proposal.
In March 2022, the International Monetary Fund (the “IMF”) assessed Sri Lanka’s public debt to be unsustainable after the country entered the pandemic with thin reserve buffers, high debt levels, and no fiscal space. The IMF’s determination prompted Sri Lanka to begin restructuring its debt the following month. As part of that process, Sri Lanka adopted an “Interim Policy” of suspending debt service on the following affected debts: