When a liquidating debtor seeks to assume a lease, one of the lessor’s immediate questions is who will be the assignee. But what happens when a liquidating debtor seeks to assume a lease and waits up to two years thereafter to determine who the assignee will be? Although peculiar, the analysis of whether to grant … Continue Reading
Our recent insight provides a comparative summary of the insolvency procedures that are available in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), England and Wales, and the US. It compares which debtor-in-possession, office-holder and terminal procedures are available in each of those jurisdictions, as well as considering the extent to which the … Continue Reading
Cathryn Williams and Paul Muscutt, partners in the Squire Patton Boggs Restructuring & Insolvency team in London, interview Ian Fletcher, Director of Policy (Real Estate) of the BPF (the trade association for UK residential and commercial real estate companies) to get the BPF’s views on the recent spate of CVAs seeking to reduce/compromise lease liabilities.… Continue Reading
An effective and well-equipped insolvency and restructuring regime gives confidence to investors and financiers, enabling credit to flow through to businesses and boost economic activity, growth and innovation. In 1999, following the Asian financial crisis, the World Bank carried out a review of the international regimes to establish a set of key principles for effective … Continue Reading
Australia’s corporate insolvency regime has undergone significant reform with the passing of the Treasury Laws Amendment (2017 Enterprise Incentives No. 2) Bill 2017 (the Bill) through both houses of parliament. One of the key elements of the reforms is the introduction of a “safe harbour” for company directors, operating as an exception to the civil … Continue Reading
The EU directive 2012/30/EU proposed in November 2016 (“Proposed Directive”) aims to avoid the adverse effects of insolvency on companies through a more flexible regime of restructuring.… Continue Reading
The European Association of Certified Turnaround Professionals (EACTP) organized an evening of debate about the proposed new European Directive on business insolvency held in Brussels on May 2nd at the offices of Squire Patton Boggs. Salla Saastamoinen, the European Commission Director of the Civil and Commercial Justice Unit, attended the event called A New European … Continue Reading
The question whether restructuring profits are taxable or not has been answered differently in Germany in the past. However, on 7 February 2017, a decision of the Grand Senate of the Federal Fiscal Court (the “FFC Decision”) was published, in which the highest German tax court declared the Restructuring Decree as unlawful. The FFC found that … Continue Reading
Peabody Energy Corporation is one of the biggest energy companies in the world. Its main business is coal mining and it conducts extensive operations in the United States and in Australia. Peabody had been hit by declining coal prices both for thermal coal and also for metallurgical coal used for steel making, especially due to the declining demand from … Continue Reading
TMA’s Journal for Corporate Renewal July/August 2016 published an article written by Nava Hazan, Mark Salzberg and Susan Kelly, which discusses how the US Bankruptcy Courts have been open to foreign debtors, as well as the limits to such availability, which was the subject of the recent Baha Mar decision in Delaware. The article further … Continue Reading
There has been a significant increase in insolvencies in the construction, real estate, retail and wholesale sectors of the Russian economy, according to the statistics in the Competition Development Bulletin “Concentration on the Russian Markets: Trends in the Period of Recession” published in December 2015 by the Analytical Centre of the Government of the Russian Federation. … Continue Reading
Delaware has long established itself as a welcoming jurisdiction for various legal purposes. It began as a center for company incorporation by providing a corporate law framework that was flexible and continuously updated for new developments. More recently, Delaware has applied those same principles (plus an expansive view of venue) to become a center for … Continue Reading
On April 25, 2016, H.R.H. Deputy Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman announced the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia “Vision 2030”, a plan to radically transform the Kingdom’s economy in, what many commentators saw as, a response to budgetary pressures arising from the slump in crude oil prices. Vision 2030 sets out a comprehensive road map to … Continue Reading
Promociones Habitat SA, the Spanish residential homebuilder, has completed a €1.45 billion restructuring which was the first refinancing of an existing composition agreement to use the provisions in a debt/equity swap within 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, … Continue Reading
IBA Insolvency Restructuring International in its Vol 10 No 1, March 2016 published an article by Sergey Treshchev and Elena Malevich, two practitioners in our Moscow office on Russia: Recent Developments in the Bankruptcy of Banks. The article provides a brief outline of the particularities of insolvency proceedings in relation to banks and credit organisations in … Continue Reading
In case you have just returned from Outer Space- the UK Government has announced that it is holding a referendum on 23 June 2016 on the question: “Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the EU or leave the EU?” In the meantime, whilst the UK decides whether to Brexit or not, the EU … Continue Reading
Maple Bank GmbH (“Maple”) has operated in Frankfurt, Germany since 1994. The bank acted in the business areas of equity and fixed income trading, repos and securities lending, deposits, structured products and institutional sales. Maple has branches in Germany, Netherlands and Canada and subsidiaries in U.S., U.K. and the Cayman islands. It is part of the … Continue Reading
In December 2015, as part of its National Innovation and Science Agenda, the Federal Government announced a proposal to introduce a ‘safe harbour’ for directors from personal liability for insolvent trading. The proposal seeks to address Australia’s insolvent trading laws, which are significantly stricter than comparable laws in the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand. The … Continue Reading
As the next quarterly rental payment fast approaches, some companies – particularly in the retail sector where sales in the run up to Christmas haven’t been what they’d hoped – may be considering exiting an onerous, costly lease. That will involve reviewing the break clauses in the lease and weighing up the costs of exercising … Continue Reading
Saudi insolvency law has for some time been something of an unknown quantity for non-Saudis. A wide-ranging reform is due to take effect in 2016, which will express elements of the rescue culture and is likely to make restructurings more common. Increased certainty in the outcome of insolvencies will benefit both Saudi businesses and domestic … Continue Reading
Background As things currently stand The aim of the EC Regulation on Insolvency Proceedings (1346/2000) (Regulation) is to improve the efficiency of insolvency proceedings with cross border aspects. It provides, within the European Union (EU), rules for determining: the proper jurisdiction for a debtor’s insolvency proceedings; the applicable law to be used in those proceedings; … Continue Reading
Following on from our recent post ‘UK Retail – Another Dressing Down?’ commenting on the trends seen over Christmas 2014, we now take a look at the approaching Easter weekend. A 4 day weekend, a recovering housing market and only a few weather warnings issued….. surely this can only mean one thing-DIY and all the … Continue Reading
Is UK Retail still in the doldrums? Christmas is a critical time for most retailers and can be the difference between life and death for many high street stores. With the economy’s recovery in its early stages and purse strings remaining tight, Christmas 2014 was never expected to be all tinsel and mistletoe. Christmas trading … Continue Reading
