Mexico

Vitro SAB, the Mexican glassmaker seeking to salvage its restructuring, urged an appeals court to enforce its bankruptcy plan in the U.S. over opposition from hedge fund Elliott Management Corp. and other creditors, Bloomberg reported. Vitro is facing “legal chaos” with a bankruptcy plan that’s valid in Mexico and unenforceable in the U.S., Vitro attorney Andrew Leblanc told the U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans today. “Vitro would be crippled in the United States” if a bankruptcy judge’s decision that denied enforcement of the plan in the U.S. is upheld, Leblanc said.

As banks in Europe and America scrabble to meet stricter capital requirements, made necessary by the failures of their own exotic lending practices, Mexico is offering some a lifeline, The Economist reported. On September 26th Santander, a Spanish bank, plans to list a quarter of its Mexican subsidiary on stock exchanges in Mexico City and New York. It has already listed subsidiaries in Brazil, Chile and Peru, as well as selling its Colombian unit.

Mexican glassmaker Vitro SAB is heading to a U.S. appeals court to save its restructuring at home from an assault by U.S. creditors in a case that could transport the U.S. bankruptcy code beyond that nation's borders, Reuters reported. The case pits one of Monterrey, Mexico's powerful and politically connected "Group of 10" businesses against U.S. hedge funds, which Latin American critics have reviled as "vultures" for their battle against Argentina's sovereign debt restructuring. Hanging in the balance is the use of Chapter 15. Foreign companies have used this 7-year-old piece of the U.S.

A U.S. federal judge refused Wednesday to enforce Mexican glass maker Vitro SAB's controversial debt restructuring in a closely watched bankruptcy case that threatened to sever the cross-border business cooperation between the two nation's legal systems, The Wall Street Journal reported. Judge Harlin D. "Cooter" Hale of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Dallas sided with bondholders in rejecting Vitro's bid, in what has been called one of the most important cases decided under Chapter 15, the section of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code governing international insolvencies.

Vitro SAB’s bid to enforce its Mexican bankruptcy plan in the U.S. is set to be decided by a judge next week after the glassmaker clashed with bondholders in court over the plan, Bloomberg reported. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Harlin DeWayne Hale in Dallas said in court today that he plans to rule on Vitro’s enforcement motion next week, probably by June 13. Vitro, which has won approval for the bankruptcy plan in Mexico, is seeking an order from Hale enforcing the restructuring and stopping litigation by bondholders who have been fighting the plan in the U.S.

Investors and financial analysts have their eyes on a bankruptcy case, pending in a Dallas courtroom, that they say could systematically shift how American firms do business with Mexican companies, KETK reported. The case also comes at a time when business interests from both sides of the Rio Grande are pushing to include Mexico in the current Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations. Mexican glass company Vitro S.A.B filed for voluntary bankruptcy in December 2010, after defaulting on about $1.2 billion in bond debt held by foreign banks, including American interests.

Mexico is studying international best practices for corporate bankruptcy proceedings after glassmaker Vitro SAB’s use of intercompany debt caused some investors to question the country’s laws, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. Vitro, which won a Mexican court’s approval this month for its debt restructuring plan, has called attention to a loophole in the country’s bankruptcy process that allowed it to use loans made to itself to qualify as its own biggest creditor.

Mexican glass maker Vitro SAB said Tuesday that a court in Mexico has approved its debt restructuring, but that it expects certain of its bondholders who have fought the deal to continue efforts against the plan, Dow Jones reported. In a press release, Vitro said a judge in Monterrey approved the proposed restructuring put forward by the conciliator in the case. The restructuring of $1.5 billion in third-party debt has caused controversy among bondholders, as it involves Vitro voting on an additional $1.9 billion in intercompany debt to secure the majority needed for approval.

A fight between Vitro SAB and its creditors is heating up, as a New York judge ruled that the Mexican glass maker must honor more than $1 billion in debt obligations to a group of disgruntled bondholders, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. The decision by New York Supreme Court Judge Bernard J. Fried, signed Monday, came one day before Vitro announced that creditors holding 74% of its debt have signed off on its restructuring plan in Mexico.

Vitro SAB, the Mexican glassmaker that defaulted on $1.5 billion of bonds, probably won’t conclude its debt restructuring by year-end as the company anticipates, the court-appointed arbitrator in the proceedings said, Bloomberg reported. External creditors, who oppose Vitro’s restructuring proposal, will raise more legal challenges with the judge in the case, arbitrator Javier Navarro-Velasco said by telephone from Monterrey, Mexico. He will present the proposal to the judge by Dec.