Judge Robert W. Sweet of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York held inCT Investment v. Carbonell and Grupo Costamex, 2012 WL 92359 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 11, 2012), that comity should be extended to an order issued by a Mexican district court overseeing the Mexican bankruptcy proceeding (concurso mercantil) of Cozumel Caribe S.A. de C.V. (“Cozumel Caribe”) under Mexico’s Ley de Concursos Mercantiles (the “Mexican Business Bankruptcy Act”). In so holding, Judge Sweet stayed the U.S.
The case deals with the pre-pack of Estro, at the time the largest childcare provider in the Netherlands.
A pre-pack entails the court-appointed trustee confidentially preparing for the restart of trading by the insolvent company with the court's consent. If successful, the company is subsequently declared bankrupt and immediately restarted. Dutch law provides that transfer of undertaking rules do not apply in the case of bankruptcy.
Europe has struggled during the last several years to triage a long series of critical blows to the economies of the 28 countries that comprise the European Union, as well as the collective viability of eurozone economies. Here we provide a snapshot of some recent developments regarding insolvency, restructuring, and related issues in the EU.
Recent developments
On October 1, 2015, the Public Sector Legal Regime Act (Ley 40/2015, 1 de octubre, de Régimen Jurídico del Sector Público) ("PSLR Act") was passed by the Spanish Parliament. As discussed in more detail below, the PSLR Act introduces, among other things, the following reforms to the Spanish Insolvency Act (Ley 22/2003, de 9 de Julio, Concursal) ("SIA") and to the Spanish Public Sector Contracts Act (Real Decreto Legislativo 3/2011, de 14 de noviembre, por el que se aprueba el texto refundido de la Ley de Contratos del Sector Público) ("SPSC Act"):
On September 5, 2014, Spain enacted urgent measures to facilitate restructurings and avoid the insolvency of companies that, under the previous regime, might have been forced to enter into an insolvency process ("RDl 11/2014"). RDl 11/2014 modifies several provisions of the Spanish Insolvency Act (the "Act"). The objective of the reform is to improve the legal framework that governs voluntary arrangements between creditors and the sale of distressed businesses outside of insolvency by removing obstacles that have previously impeded the successful reorganization of insolvent companies.
Aim of the Reform
On March 8, 2014, Spain enacted urgent measures to govern refinancing and restructuring of corporate debt ("RDl 4/2014"), modifying several provisions of the Spanish Insolvency Act (the "Act"). The objective of the reform is to improve the legal framework that governs refinancing agreements to remove obstacles that have previously impeded the successful execution of restructuring and refinancing transactions.
Principal Amendments
On October 10, 2011, the Spanish Parliament approved Law n. 38/2011 (the “Amendment”), which amends the Spanish Insolvency Act of 2003 (the “Insolvency Act”). Except for certain of its provisions (which became effective on October 12, 2011), the Amendment will generally come into force on January 1, 2012.
Global—On 26 October 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in a ruling that may impact sovereign debt restructurings, upheld a lower court order enjoining Argentina from making payments on restructured defaulted debt without making comparable payments to bondholders who did not participate in the restructuring.