What is this all about?
India is proposing a new insolvency and bankruptcy code. It’s all part of the “Make In India” campaign by Narendra Modi’s government who are trying to attract businesses to India.
Current law
It does not appear that there has been a single separate law for bankruptcy legislation in the country’s history. Currently / historically the following have been used for insolvency purposes:
This quick guide summarises the duties that directors of companies incorporated in Italy are subject to, and how those duties change when the company is insolvent or at risk of being insolvent.
It also gives an overview of the personal risk to directors when the company is in financial difficulty.
This note is intended as an overview and should not be relied on as legal advice. Should you require legal advice in relation to your specific circumstances, please contact the Restructuring & Insolvency team members whose contact details are at the end of this note.
A ruling by the Supreme Court in Spain says Spanish banks that held deposits for property that was never built are to be held to account. Around 100,000 people in the UK are thought to have paid big sums towards such properties in Spain but these were lost when several developers went bust in the wake of 2008’s financial crisis. Estimates for how much British buyers could claim are around £4bn.
Judgment of the Supreme Court, Chamber One, Number 134/2016, 04 March
Supreme Court Judgment dated 10 March 2016 (STS 151/2016)
The judgment of the Supreme Court analyses the objective scope of extension of the liability for obligations and debts for which, as appropriate, the director of a company should be liable and, more specifically, the scope of "the corporate obligations subsequent to the occurrence of the legal ground for dissolution".
Promociones Habitat SA, the Spanish residential homebuilder, has completed a €1.45 billion restructuring which was the first refinancing of an existing composition agreement using Spain’s new company rescue laws.
In 2008 Promociones Habitat SA (Habitat)applied for voluntary bankruptcy with accumulated liabilities of 2,840 million euros. Two years later, in 2010, Mercantile Court no. 3 of Barcelona approved the composition agreement with more than 80% adhering to the proposal.
On Dec. 18, Spain’s High Court said it would investigate claims of mismanagement by Abengoa creditors’ against the former chairman and the former CEO of the engineering and energy firm struggling with serious financial problems. In its ruling, the High Court asked Felipe Benjumea, the former chairman whose father founded the company, to post a bond of 11.5 million euros ($12.5 million) to cover potential liabilities within 24 hours.
The Provincial Court of Zaragoza has ruled on an appeal lodged by the General Treasury of Social Security against a Mercantile Court decision approving a liquidation plan that considered the transfer of the insolvent company as a productive unit and exonerated the buyer from social security debts.
The legal issue to consider was whether the magistrate of the Mercantile Court had the power to declare the buyer of an insolvent company exempt from paying the social security debts acquired prior to said transfer, as it did.
The Law 9/2015 includes the following novelties:
1. In Regard to the Insolvency Agreement
Law 9/2015 presents a series of novelties regarding the insolvency agreement, such as:
One of the blocks of Royal Decree-Law 1/2015, dated 27 February (hereinafter, the “RDL”) envisages the implementation of urgent measures to reduce the financial burden, introducing amendments mainly in the Insolvency Act, in Royal Decree-Law 6/2012, dated 9 March, concerning urgent measures to protect mortgage debtors without resources, and in Law 1/2013, dated 14 May, concerning measures to strengthen the protection of mortgage debtors, the restructuring of debt and low-income lease.