Background
The Insolvency Practice Schedule (Corporations) (“IPS”) was inserted into the Corporations Act 2001 (“Act”) by the Insolvency Law Reform Act 2016 (Cth). Under section 70-45 of the IPS, a creditor can request an external administrator of a company to give company information to the creditor. The impetus behind introducing this section was trying to achieve greater transparency for creditors who, through their inspection of the administrator’s files, can monitor the external administrator’s conduct.
Under the Law on Bankruptcy 2014, creditors (chủ nợ) of a bankrupt enterprise include unsecured creditors, partially secured creditors (chủ nợ có bảo đảm một phần) and secured creditors (chủ nợcó bảo đảm). While it is not entirely clear, it appears that partially secured creditors are considered as a separate class of creditors and have their own rights during a bankruptcy proceeding.
Under the Law on Bankruptcy 2014,
The rights of secured creditors under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (Code) have been a matter of continuous litigation and uncertainty. Early on, the challenge presented itself when during the insolvency resolution of Essar steel (India) Ltd., the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) directed the distribution of resolution plan proceeds equally amongst all classes of creditors, including financial, operational, secured and unsecured creditors.
The Hong Kong High Court has given a rare order for modifications to a scheme of arrangement after it had been implemented incorrectly by the scheme administrators. Drawing on instances in which the English courts have sanctioned modifications after approval by scheme creditors, the court held that the same principles apply here.
On 1 November 2023, the long-awaited amendment to the Slovenian Insolvency Act (Zakon o finančnem poslovanju, postopkih zaradi insolventnosti in prisilnem prenehanju or ZFPPIPP-H) has entered into force.
On 4 March 2024, Mr Justice Richards of the English High Court delivered a judgment (the Judgment) in relation to the sanction of the restructuring plan under Part 26A of the Companies Act 2006 (the Plan) of Project Lietzenburger Straße HoldCo S.à r.l. (the Plan Company). The Judgment required that a new creditors’ meeting of the Plan Company’s senior creditors be convened to vote on an amended Plan.
This overview includes case law since mid-2022 and provides an overview of legal amendments that have a practical impact on national and international contracts.
Insolvency-based rescission clauses
In the first restructuring plan since the Court of Appeal's landmark decision in Adler, the High Court has handed down an extraordinary judgment sanctioning McDermott's heavily contested Part 26A restructuring plan and berating the conduct of its opposing creditor. Despite this, the opposing creditor ended up with the financial compromise they asked for – not through the plan but, in part at least, because of events occurring in the parallel Dutch WHOA proceedings. This should give UK lawyers some pause for thought.
Diese Übersicht umfasst die Rechtsprechung seit Mitte 2022 und bietet einen Ausblick auf relevante Gesetzesänderungen, die sowohl für nationale als auch internationale Verträge von praktischer Bedeutung sind.
Insolvenzabhängige Lösungsklauseln
On 9 February, the High Court handed down its judgement on Re Link Fund Solutions Ltd [2024] EWHC 250 (Ch) (the "Link Case").