On 23 June 2016 a 52% majority of the British people voted in favour of leaving the European Union. It seems likely that the immediate effect of the Brexit vote will be a degree of turmoil in the financial markets, involving, for instance a devaluation of Sterling against the Euro and of the Euro against the USD. This … Continue Reading
So after all the shouting, the half-truths and the speculation, there is a vote to leave. What does this mean for your business? What will your Board need to know today? Although no one knows today all the details of what will happen next, in our ‘Brexit – What Next?’ piece we have looked at some … Continue Reading
Chances are those well-known eloquent lyrics have stirred up some patriotic spirit from somewhere deep within even the most sporting averse of us. With the 2016 summer of sport fast upon us the effect of the Euros, Wimbledon and the Olympics could have a significant impact on the economy (and the nerves) of the nation. … Continue Reading
Last week the UK Government issued a consultation document on changing UK insolvency legislation to enable distressed companies to obtain a moratorium for up to three months, with the possibility of an extension, under the supervision of an insolvency practitioner. The moratorium would prevent all creditors, including secured creditors, from taking any enforcement action against such companies without first applying to … Continue Reading
A View from Brussels As the 23 June date for the British referendum about its future in the European Union (EU) comes closer, the EU political leadership in Brussels remains uncertain how best to support the ‘Bremain’ forces in order to avoid the embarrassing and damaging departure of one of its largest and strongest members. None … Continue Reading
The statistics show that over 10,000 English limited companies operate in Germany. The company is registered in the Companies Register in the UK, but has a branch active in Germany, which is registered in German Company registries. On 10 December 2015 the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) decided on the question whether … 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
The French government has made the assessment that certain small commercial courts were regularly finding themselves confronted with cases of great complexity, only because the company in difficulty had its head office in the jurisdiction of these courts. It therefore announced the establishment of specialised commercial courts (TCS) which will process the most complex insolvency proceedings. … 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
The Macron law of 7 August 2015, named after the current Minister of the Economy, anticipated the establishment of specialised commercial courts which will process the most complex insolvency proceedings. Currently, any of the 134 French commercial courts can be applied to; the choice being mainly the location of the distressed company’s headquarters. This new arrangement aims to improve … Continue Reading
The European Union regulation on derivatives, central counterparties and trade repositories (EMIR) introduces new requirements to improve transparency and reduce the risks associated with the derivatives market. EMIR also establishes common organisational, conduct of business and prudential standards for Central Counterparties (CCPs) and trade repositories. In the EU official journal, it was stated on 1 December 2015 that … Continue Reading
Complex multi-jurisdictional insolvencies are an inevitable consequence of the increasingly global nature of big business. The collapse of the likes of Barings, Enron and most recently Lehmans (the latter involving insolvency proceedings in some 16 jurisdictions) have highlighted the growing need for legislative action to promote cross-border co-operation and protect the interests of international creditors. … Continue Reading
A referendum on whether the UK should remain a member of the EU is scheduled to take place before the end of 2017. John Alderton and Helen Kavanagh were interviewed by Alex Heshmaty for LexisPSL about the possible impact of the referendum on restructuring and insolvency lawyers and their clients in an article entitled Leave … Continue Reading
IBA Insolvency Restructuring International in its Vol 9 No of September 2015 published an article Bankruptcy in Russia: new instruments of protection of creditors’ rights by our two Moscow practitioners Sergey Treshchev and Elena Malevich who analyse opportunities which the creditors have obtained due to the recent amendments in the Russian Insolvency Law. Special rules regulating … Continue Reading
Poland’s Parliament has enacted a new law creating a Borrowers’ Support Fund to help homeowners with mortgages that are underwater. Official statistics by mortgage amount show that 24.3% of mortgages, totaling PLN 84.1 billion (approx. USD 22.7 billion) exceed the value of the borrowers’ homes, affecting 236,400 borrowers. This phenomenon has resulted from the large number … Continue Reading
When Hypo Alpe-Adria Bank International AG (Hypo), the Austrian bank, failed in 2014, the Austrian Government paved the way for the establishment of Heta Asset Resolution AG (Heta) as a wind-down vehicle to assume and manage large parts of its assets. The idea was to wind down Hypo by 2020. The Austrian “Act on the Recovery and … Continue Reading
The English High Court has again considered whether by itself the choice of English law and court jurisdiction in legal documentation establishes a “sufficient connection” with England to enable a foreign company to avail itself of an English scheme of arrangement. Background It has become increasingly popular for foreign companies to utilise an English scheme … Continue Reading
In March 2014 the European Commission issued a Recommendation considering a new approach to business failure and insolvency, targeting efficient restructuring of viable enterprises in financial difficulty and a second chance for honest entrepreneurs. The objective of this Recommendation was: “to encourage Member States to put in place a framework that enables the efficient restructuring … Continue Reading
On 5 August 2015, the President of the Republic of Poland signed an amendment to the Act of 29 August 1997 on Covered Bonds and Mortgage Banks and related laws (the “Amendment”). These new changes will come into force on 1 January 2016. The main goal of the Amendment is to enhance the availability of … Continue Reading
The European Banking Association (EBA) issued Guidelines on 26 May 2015 regarding the circumstances under which an institution is considered to be failing or likely to fail according to Article 32(6) of Directive 2014/59/EU. Such Guidelines take effect on 1 January 2016 and were issued pursuant to Article 32(6), which directed the EBA to issue these … Continue Reading
Previous posts have explained some aspects of the ROT concept in Germany (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3). Now it is time to consider how ROT actually works in the insolvency of a German customer. The most important point in this respect is that the potential protection granted by ROT does not work automatically. Instead, action … Continue Reading
On Monday 13 July 2015 the Eurozone Finance Ministers stated that they have entered into an understanding for further funds to be made available to Greece under the rules of ESM (combined with a more or less state controlled Greek trust fund for assets to be privatized) to avoid structuring a temporary Grexit. Such understanding is conditional upon the Greek parliament … Continue Reading
Following on from our recent blog on ‘How the UK General Election Might Influence the Recast Insolvency Regulation’ and whether the UK will still be part of the EU in 2017 when it comes into force, we consider the ‘hokey cokey’ of the upcoming EU referendum. At first glance the Conservative’s victory in the recent … Continue Reading
