Year in Review - United Arab Emirates Law in 2016
In the last installment of this 3-part series, Oscar van Rossum du Chattel, a Senior Case Intelligence Manager based in Omni Bridgeway’s Geneva office, and Jonathan Siklos, a Senior Case Intelligence Manager bas
Clearly there are some major economic challenges ahead. Many businesses may be able to withstand the challenges ahead but it may very well be that their trading counterparties (whether suppliers, customers or other stakeholders) will not. Whilst these times can represent an opportunity for some, such as potential acquirers (whether of businesses, assets or distressed debt), in most cases, the climate represents a threat to businesses.
COVID-19 has impacted all businesses and economies around the globe with a precipitous decline in demand and supply as a result of quarantine orders, business closures, and social distancing. International Monetary Fund research suggests that the world economy may shrink (in the year 2020) by 3% with the trade volume falling by 11% and the oil prices by 42% (World Economic Outlook, April 2020: The Great Lockdown). In these challenging circumstances and with significant level of debt, many companies are at the onset of insolvency.
ANNUAL CASE REVIEW 2021 serlecourt RAISING THE BAR IN CHANCERY & COMMERCIAL “Stacked with highly experienced silks and juniors, Serle Court has long been one of the leading sets when it comes to civil fraud disputes” Legal 500 serlecourt 02 Welcome to Serle Court’s Annual Review of 2021. In the second year of the pandemic, barristers at Serle Court have continued to appear, often remotely, in courts at all levels around the world, in cases across our wide field of commercial chancery law.
The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has risen rapidly, prompting local authorities to put in place stricter containment measures, including a full lockdown which commenced on 4 April 2020. Outside of businesses in vital sectors, all other businesses were directed to apply a work from home policy or to close down.
On 13 June 2019 the new Insolvency Law(DIFC Law No. 1 of 2019) and the associated Insolvency Regulations 2019 (the “Law”) came in to effect in the Dubai International Finance Centre (“DIFC”) repealing and replacing the DIFC’s Insolvency Law of 2009 (the “Old Law”).
The Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM)continues to enhance its legislative framework after recently publishing its fourth round of amendments to the ADGM Insolvency Regulations 2015.
As part of the latest round of amendments, the ADGM has introduced a new chapter dealing with priority funding (PDF), similar to US Chapter 11 style debtor-in-possession (DIP) funding.
This Update is produced on a monthly basis. It provides an update on new legislation in certain Middle East countries (Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the Sultanate of Oman and the United Arab Emirates) where SNR Denton has offices. We also include Turkey and Lebanon updates from our affiliate and associate firms in Istanbul and Beirut respectively.
The active trading of loans made to a borrower that has become unable to repay in full (known as non-performing loans or distressed debt) has been a feature of the North American and European loan markets for a number of years.