There is a first time for everything - US bankruptcy plan for Australian debtor

Need to know

In a first for the US and Australian markets, the Buccaneer Energy group of companies successfully had bankruptcy plans approved by the US Bankruptcy Court for both US and Australian incorporated debtor companies. 

Filed under:
Australia, USA, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Baker McKenzie, Bankruptcy, Debtor
Authors:
David Walter , Peter Lucarelli , Maria O'Brien
Location:
Australia, USA
Firm:
Baker McKenzie
ABI publishes its review of US Chapter 11 bankruptcy

"Once in a generation" review

Shortly before the Christmas break, the much anticipated review of the United States "Chapter 11 bankruptcy" regime was published by the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI). This is one of very few such major "root and branch" reviews of Chapter 11 since its enactment in 1978, and the first since the 1990s.

Filed under:
Australia, USA, Insolvency & Restructuring, Baker McKenzie, Bankruptcy
Authors:
Maria O'Brien , David Walter , Peter Lucarelli , David Heroy
Location:
Australia, USA
Firm:
Baker McKenzie
District court holds that section 550(a) of the Bankruptcy Code does not apply extraterritorially to allow for recovery of subsequent transfers received abroad by a foreign transferee from a foreign transferor

Securities Investor Protection Corp. v. Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, 12-mc-115 (S.D.N.Y. July 6, 2014) [click for opinion]

Filed under:
USA, New York, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Baker McKenzie, Security (finance), Extraterritoriality
Location:
USA
Firm:
Baker McKenzie
District court holds that the Federal Receivership Statute does not require specific identification of receivership assets in filings

Carney v. Beracha, No. 12-cv-00180, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16460 (D. Conn. Feb. 10, 2014) [click for opinion]

Filed under:
USA, Connecticut, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Baker McKenzie, Personal jurisdiction
Location:
USA
Firm:
Baker McKenzie
Seventh Circuit upholds pre-petition and post-petition transfers in sentinel matter

The Seventh Circuit has reversed the district  court’s decision in the Sentinel matter and ruled that the Bankruptcy Court’s allowance of a pre-petition transfer and authorization of a post-petition transfer of assets by Sentinel to its FCM customers was permitted under the Bankruptcy Code.  The District Court had previously avoided the $22.5 million pre-petition transfer of funds to FCM customers and the $297 million post-petition transfer of funds authorized by the Bankruptcy Court.

Filed under:
USA, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Baker McKenzie, United States bankruptcy court, Seventh Circuit
Location:
USA
Firm:
Baker McKenzie
Second Circuit holds that a U.S. bankruptcy court may not recognize a foreign insolvency proceeding unless the debtor has a domicile, residence, business, or property in the U.S

In Re: Katherine Elizabeth Barnet, No. 13-612 (2d Cir. Dec. 11, 2013) [click for opinion]

Filed under:
USA, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Baker McKenzie, Debtor, Title 11 of the US Code, Second Circuit, United States bankruptcy court
Location:
USA
Firm:
Baker McKenzie
Personal jurisdiction

Tenth Circuit holds that Canadian nationals who conspire to commit a breach of fiduciary duty against a Delaware corporation operating exclusively in Oklahoma are subject to personal jurisdiction in Oklahoma despite their lack of physical contact with the state.  Canadian law firm alleged to have assisted the conspirators is not, however, subject to personal jurisdiction.

Filed under:
USA, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Baker McKenzie, Fiduciary, Personal jurisdiction, Delaware General Corporation Law, Tenth Circuit
Authors:
David Zaslowsky , Grant Hanessian
Location:
USA
Firm:
Baker McKenzie
Bankruptcy court declines to accord comity to reorganization plan approved by Mexican court

In re Vitro, S.A.B. de C.V., No. 11-33335-HDH-15 (Bankr. N.D. Tex. June 13, 2012)

Filed under:
USA, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Baker McKenzie, Bankruptcy, Debtor, Comity, Title 11 of the US Code
Authors:
David Zaslowsky , Grant Hanessian
Location:
USA
Firm:
Baker McKenzie
District court holds that a bankruptcy action’s automatic stay, and the bankruptcy's court's power to enjoin violations of the stay, applied extraterritorially

Sec. Investor Prot. Corp. v. Bernard L. Madoff Inv. Secs., 474 B.R. 76 (2012)

The trustee for the Securities Investor Protection Act ("SIPA") liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC ("BLMIS") filed a complaint in the bankruptcy court against Maxam Absolute Return Fund Ltd. ("Maxam"), seeking the return of about $100 million distributed to Maxam by BLMIS.  Maxam answered the complaint and then sued the trustee in the Cayman Islands seeking a declaration that it was not required to return the money. 

Filed under:
USA, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Baker McKenzie, Bankruptcy, Debtor, Injunction, Extraterritoriality
Authors:
David Zaslowsky , Grant Hanessian
Location:
USA
Firm:
Baker McKenzie
Supreme Court confirms lenders’ rights to credit bid in chapter 11 cramdown plans

Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court held that sales of assets pursuant to chapter 11 plans must permit credit bidding by their secured lenders in order to satisfy the requirements for confirmation of a chapter 11 “cramdown” plan.1

Filed under:
USA, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Baker McKenzie, SCOTUS
Location:
USA
Firm:
Baker McKenzie