Shareholders are among the many who have lost money in the multi-billion euro insolvency of the former DAX30 payment provider Wirecard and its allegedly fraudulent business practices. Wirecard had to file for insolvency after assets worth €1.9bn could not be found. Collectively, the shareholders claimed around €7bn in damages for intentional capital markets law violations by former Wirecard executives. Unsurprisingly, the shareholders are now trying to minimise their losses and secure at least partial payment on their claims from the insolvency estate.
In a recent decision Chandler -v- Wright [2022] EWHC 2205 (Ch) - Mr Justice Edwin Johnson in the High Court has found that myriad claims against the former directors of the retailer BHS fall to be struck out in the context of the high-value, complex litigation being brought by the joint liquidators of the BHS companies against the former directors of those companies.
Re Bitumina Industries Ltd (in administration); Manning and another v Neste AB and another [2022].
This was an application by joint administrators for directions on the validity of a floating charge granted to a connected party at a 'relevant time' and seemingly invalid under s245 of the Insolvency Act 1986 (the Act).
Background
David Pollard has been looking at the statutory provisions dealing with substantial disposals by a company in administration in the first 8 weeks of the administration. When is a potential purchaser a connected person under the new provisions that come into force at the end of April 2021? The new legislation was the Administration (restrictions on Disposals etc to Connected Persons Regulations 2021 and para 60A in Schedule B1 to the Insolvency Act 1986.
Contents
- Commencing proceedings
- Avoidance actions
- Claims against directors, officers and shareholders
- Creditor actions and strategic considerations
- Pre-insolvency debtor claims
- Other claims
- Cross-border proceedings
- Remedies and enforcement
- Settlement and mediation
- Update and trends
01 — Commencing proceedings
Litigation climate
Even before chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code was enacted in 2005 to govern cross-border bankruptcy proceedings, the enforceability of a foreign court order approving a restructuring plan that modified or discharged U.S. law-governed debt was well recognized under principles of international comity. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York recently reaffirmed this concept in In re Modern Land (China) Co., Ltd., 641 B.R. 768 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 2022).
Two decisions handed down on the same day – one by the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal and the other by the Commercial Division of the High Court – illustrate the approach of British Virgin Islands Courts to applications to appoint liquidators in circumstances where the subject matter of a dispute as to the existence of a debt falls within the scope of an arbitration agreement.
Introduction
In a recent decision, the Delhi High Court ("Delhi HC”) has stayed 2 (two) summary suits against a personal guarantor on the ground that interim moratorium under Section 96 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 ("IBC”) arising out of another creditor’s IBC proceedings has the effect of staying all pending legal proceedings in respect of ‘all of the debts’ of the particular guarantor.
Brief Facts
Corporate insolvency numbers continued to appear artificially low in 2022. The expectation is that they will rise once businesses need to deal with the aftermath of Government pandemic supports and, in particular, start to pay warehoused taxes.
In the recent decision of Base Realtors Private Limited v. Grand Realcon Private Limited, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal, New Delhi (“NCLAT”) has upheld the maintainability of an application filed under Section 7 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (“IBC”) relating to the component of interest due and payable, without asking for the principal amount which has not yet become due and payable.
Brief Facts