John Wasty, John Riihiluoma, Lalita Vaswani and James Batten, Appleby

This is an extract from the 2024 edition of GRR's the Americas Restructuring Review. The whole publication is available here.

In summary

On 12 July 2023, the Legislative Council enacted the Bankruptcy and Companies Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Ordinance 2023, a transformative initiative to modernise the filing and notice processes under the Bankruptcy Ordinance (Cap 6) and the Companies (Winding-Up and Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance (Cap 32). With the amendments, the Official Receiver’s Office (ORO) introduces the Electronic Submission System (ESS) to bring the ORO and insolvencies into the 21st century.

Changes effective from 29 December 2023

In Short

The Background: On November 15, 2023, the Temporary Fast-Track Liquidation Transparency Act (Tijdelijke Wet Transparantie Turboliquidatie) (the "Act") came into force in the Netherlands, temporarily changing certain statutory provisions in the Dutch Civil Code (Burgerlijk Wetboek), the Dutch Bankruptcy Act (Faillissementswet), and the Dutch Economic Offenses Act (Wet op de economische delicten).

On 15 November 2023, the Temporary Act on Transparency of Expedited Liquidation (Turbo Liquidation Act) will enter into force. It aims to increase trust in the expedited liquidation procedure by improving its transparency, the legal protection of creditors and combatting the abuse of the procedure.

Background

1. 始めに

JV（ジョイントベンチャー）は、自社の持たないノウハウ・経営資源等を JV パートナー間が JV を通じて相互に提供することで新たな価値を創出すると共に、リスクを適切に分担することに存在意義の  1   つがある。しかしながら、①一旦、JV パートナー間の関係が悪化すると、デッドロックや契約違反が生じ、円滑なビジネス運営に支障をきたし、また、②JV（対象会社）の財務状況が悪化すると、当該損失の処理を巡っ  て、JV パートナー間で軋轢が発生することがある。

そこで、本稿では、そのような JV の処理を巡る問題を概観することとする。

2. 契約上の攻防

まず、JV パートナー間の関係が悪化した場合に備えて、通常は JV 契約において、①JV 関係の解消方法に関する条項、及び②紛争解決手段に関する条項が記載されていることが多いため、当該条項に従って処理を  行うことが想定される 。

While the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (“IBC”) provides for insolvency resolution and liquidation of ‘corporate persons’, it excludes ‘financial service provider’ (“FSP(s)”) from the said provision.

The changes proposed seek to address the existing issues and safeguard the interests of stakeholders. The comments on the proposals and the draft regulations may be shared by November 10, 2023.

The sixteen proposals put forward by the Board are as follows: –

• No verification of prospective bidders

This judgment reinforces the Court’s power to order a judgment debtor to draw down their pension for the benefit of the creditors as recently seen in Bacci v Green.

Summary

The recent judgment handed down by the High Court in Manolete v White [2023] EWHC 567 (Ch) reinforces the Court’s power to order a judgment debtor to exercise a right to draw down on their pension for the benefit of creditors as recently seen in Bacci v Green.

The Facts

On 6 October 2023, Parker J handed down his reasons for dismissing an application to bring the voluntary liquidation of Port Link GP Ltd, General Partner (GP) of The Port Fund L.P. (TPF) under the supervision of the Grand Court pursuant to section 124 of the Companies Act. (Section 124)

The Grand Court of the Cayman Islands has recently dismissed a petition for the appointment of restructuring officers pursuant to the restructuring regime introduced in the Cayman Islands in August 2022. The case provides helpful clarification of the nature of evidence that is required to be put before the Court to engage its jurisdiction to appoint restructuring officers and will allow companies to be better prepared when seeking to utilise the Cayman Islands restructuring regime with the benefit of the automatic moratorium.