On March 25, 2022, the Alberta Court of Appeal issued its decision in PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc v Perpetual Energy Inc, 2022 ABCA 111. Briefly, the Court held that abandonment and reclamation obligations (ARO) of oil and gas assets operate to depress the value of those assets for the purposes of fraudulent preferences legislation, notwithstanding that they are not provable claims in bankruptcy. The Court also held that serial summary dismissal applications on different grounds are an abuse of process.

Decided on 18 January 2022| Supreme Court of India

In its unanimous decision, Ernst & Young Inc. v. Aquino, the Ontario Court of Appeal modified the common law doctrine of corporate attribution in the bankruptcy and insolvency context to uphold a decision of Ontario Superior Court’s Commercial List, which ordered a corporate officer and his associates, whom collectively orchestrated a fraudulent invoicing scheme, to repay over $30 million to company creditors pursuant to s. 96 of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (“BIA”).

Background

Perhaps surprisingly given the rarity of such cases, a handful of high-profile court rulings recently have addressed whether a solvent chapter 11 debtor is obligated to pay postpetition, pre-effective date interest ("pendency interest") to unsecured creditors to render their claims "unimpaired" under a chapter 11 plan and, if so, at what rate.

This week’s TGIF considers In the matter of Guided Knowledge Group Pty Ltd [2022] NSWSC 255 in which a liquidator sought approval for his remuneration under Schedule 2 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth).

Key Takeaways

On 30 March 2022, the English court sanctioned the most recent restructuring plan proposed by Smile Telecoms Holdings Limited (Smile).

How the Belgian Cour de Cassation qualifies a director of a company as an “enterprise”

Since the entry into force of the new Belgian Code of Economic Law (‘BCEL’) it is possible for a company director, in its personal capacity, to be qualified as an “enterprise” and consequently to be declared bankrupt.

The definition of an enterprise is set out in Article I.1, 1° BCEL and relates to the following organisations:

a) any natural person who independently performs a professional activity;

Thorn (liquidator), in the matter of South Townsville Developments Pty Ltd (in liq) (Company) involved an ex parte application by a liquidator seeking approval under section 477(2B) of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (Corporations Act) to enter into agreements to fund existing litigation and a request for the suppression and non-publication of certain details in those agreements.

Background

Letters of support take many forms and are issued for a variety of purposes and can generate a serious tension between the interests of various stakeholders — parents, subsidiaries, boards and auditors.

簡介

最近在關於申請罷免清盤人的Shearman & Sterling (a firm) and others v Asia-Pac Infrastructure Development Limited (in creditor’s voluntary liquidation) and others [2022] HKCFI 218一案中，法院在詳細考慮提出此項申請所需的資格後駁回申請，裁定申請人欠缺所需資格。

背景

第一被告人（「該公司」）是一間正在進行債權人自願清盤的公司。第二及第三被告人（分別為「鄧先生」及「侯女士」）是該公司的清盤人。該公司在高院民事訴訟2006年第806號（「高院訟案」）是原告人之一，而本案的原告人（「謝爾曼等人」）是高院訟案的被告人。