In a recent High Court decision, a provisional liquidator was ordered to pay the costs of the official liquidator (who replaced the provisional liquidator and was appointed as the new liquidator of the company) and Revenue without being entitled to have recourse to the assets of the company.

The Examinership of Norwegian Air

Key Features

// C O R P O R AT E R E S T R U C T U R I N G & I N S O LV E N C Y

The Examinership of Norwegian Air Group Key Features

On 26 May 2021 Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA (NAS) and related companies (Norwegian Air) exited examinership in Ireland. Through the restructuring Norwegian Air:

raised NOK 6 billion (590 million) in new capital through share and hybrid debt offerings;

The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment has published the outline of proposed legislation for a dedicated rescue and restructuring framework for insolvent or potentially insolvent small and micro companies – see here.

Background

In a recent High Court decision, it was ruled that the liquidator not only failed in his application before the court, but in bringing forward an application that was 'doomed to fail', the liquidator was acting negligently and breached his duty of care to the company as liquidator. As a result, the liquidator was held personally liable for the costs of the application.

On 1 August 2020, the Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) (COVID-19) Act 2020 (Act) was signed into law. This legislation, due to commence soon, will address certain specific company law issues arising because of the ongoing and unprecedented Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis.

General Meetings

On 20 July 2020, the Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) (COVID-19) Bill 2020 (the Bill) was initiated in Seanad Éireann (the upper house of the Irish parliament). This proposed legislation seeks to address certain specific company law issues which have arisen in the context of the ongoing and unprecedented Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis.

General Meetings

The Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) has recently issued welcome guidance on how the impact of COVID-19 will be considered by the ODCE when evaluating potential restriction cases in respect of directors of insolvent companies – see here.

On 24 September 2020, the European Commission (the Commission) relaunched its Capital Markets Union project with the publication of its ambitious new initiative,"A Capital Markets Union for people and businesses – new action plan" (the Action Plan). The purpose of the Action Plan is to reduce the current fragmented approach in financial markets and to tackle some of the remaining barriers to a single European capital market.

In a judgment delivered on 14 October 2020, the High Court, in refusing to appoint an examiner to New Look Retailers Ireland Limited (New Look Ireland) ruled that it was "entirely premature to consider the appointment of an examiner". New Look Ireland trades under the brand name "New Look" and operates across 27 stores in Ireland.

In the case of Wilson v McNamara [2020] EWHC 98 (Ch) the High Court of England and Wales (the Court) considered whether the EU principle of freedom of establishment requires that a pension held in another EU member state (Ireland) should be excluded from a bankruptcy estate under UK law in the same manner as a UK pension would be in a UK bankruptcy. Mr Justice Nugee decided in order to decide the case the Court needed to refer a preliminary reference to the European Court of Justice (CJEU) on a question of EU law.