The insolvency proceedings of the Lehman Brothers' group of companies worldwide ("Group") are among the most complicated ones we have seen. A significant factor contributing to the complexity is that many Group entities hold segregated assets (principally securities and funds) for their clients, which may be individuals or entities within or outside the Group.

124 members of the Element Six pension scheme are suing the trustees of the scheme in the Commercial Court for alleged breach of duty arising out of the decision to close the scheme with a significant deficit.  The members claim that the trustees breached their duty to the members by failing to demand that the employer fully fund the deficit in the scheme before wind up.  A number of general issues relating to the obligations of trustees were raised during the 3-week hearing of the case.

Background

Court Acceptance of Petition for Corporate Reorganization

The Royal Court in Jersey has a varied and challenging workload. The cases that have come before it this quarter certainly live up to that description. Here we discuss just a handful of cases that the Royal Court has determined, that, whilst in some respects are unremarkable, in other respects serve to illustrate the breadth of the experience that the Royal Court judiciary possesses.

Representation of Private Equity Fund Finance Limited [2018] JRC 194

Case Summary

The case of Capita Trustees Ltd, RS, NS, The Trustees in Bankruptcy of RS - In the matter of the Dunlop Settlement [2013] JRC 029 concerns an application by Capita Trustees Limited (Capita) in its capacity as trustee of the Dunlop Settlement (the Trust) for approval to it entering into an agreement intended to settle various claims made against the Trust by creditors (the Agreement), the net effect of which would be to exhaust the assets of the Trust.

The Facts

In one of a number of cases in which Bedell Cristin has acted for English trustees in bankruptcy who have sought recognition in Jersey for the purposes of seeking documents from Jersey trustees in order to trace assets of the bankrupt, the court was asked to recognise the trustee, even though the petitioning creditor in the bankruptcy was a foreign revenue (HMRC), whose claim comprised 99.8% of all claims against the bankrupt. There is a long established rule in England, Jersey and elsewhere which prevents enforcement of foreign revenue claims.

With the enactment of the Ley de Concursos Mercantiles (the “LCM”) in 2000, Mexico took a dramatic step towards modernizing its bankruptcy and insolvency laws. Several years later, in 2007, Mexico took additional steps by enacting a number of reforms aimed to create or clarify the legal framework regarding various important topics that were novel in Mexico, including implementation of a process to obtain approval of pre-negotiated plans.  

Introduction

On September 23 2009 the Amsterdam District Court granted the holder of a pledge over the shares in the capital of Schoeller Arca Systems Services BV authorization for foreclosure on the pledge by way of a private sale. Foreclosure on a pledge over Dutch shares is rare. The decision introduces the possibility for a secured lender either to wipe out subordinated mezzanine debt or to implement a loan-to-own strategy.

Facts

In 2007 Schoeller Arca Systems, its parent and subsidiaries (known as the SAS Group) entered into:

Introduction

The credit crisis has led to many opportunities for financial and strategic buyers to purchase all or part of a business or assets from financially troubled companies at significantly discounted prices. In such deals, buyers run the risk that the transaction may be set aside on the basis of voidable preference rules (the so-called 'actio pauliana').