Administration
Steinhoff investors’ consortium drops claims, but settlement still faces hostility
A consortium of shareholders seeking to disrupt South African conglomerate Steinhoff’s global settlement has withdrawn its opposition to the group’s Dutch suspension of payments proceedings – but other claimant groups remain hostile in the Netherlands and South Africa.
08 June 2021
Re-launched Buchler Phillips expands in London
London-based turnaround and restructuring firm Buchler Phillips has re-hired an insolvency specialist after a 25-year hiatus and appointed the former chairman of Tottenham Hotspur football club as a partner.
07 June 2021
BonelliErede helps rescue Italian Greensill casualty
Italy’s BonelliErede is advising Venice-based bank Ifis on its purchase of a local lender out of compulsory liquidation, after it collapsed under the weight of its exposures to Greensill’s German banking subsidiary.
28 May 2021
NMC Healthcare administrators face claw back roadblocks in Abu Dhabi
NMC Healthcare’s administrators in Abu Dhabi’s financial free zone are facing jurisdictional hurdles in their attempts to claw back payments diverted to Dubai Islamic Bank, amid questions the judge described as “elusive”.
27 May 2021
The post-pandemic restructuring landscape - three trends from Asia
Against the backdrop of the covid-19 pandemic and soon-to-be-rescinded government support schemes, local principal Emmanuel Chua and associate Shriram Jayakumar at Baker & McKenzie Wong & Leow in Singapore discuss three key trends to look for in the "new normal".
20 May 2021
Regis CVA revoked as court declares it unfairly prejudicial
In a change of fortunes for UK landlords, a court has revoked hairdressing chain Regis’ company voluntary arrangement, finding the inclusion of a shareholder as an unimpaired critical creditor was unfairly prejudicial – and that a CVA nominee’s conduct fell below the standard required.
17 May 2021
Virgin Active secures second-ever UK cross-class cramdown
Gym chain Virgin Active’s heavily contested restructuring plans have been sanctioned in a judgment affirming that English courts will afford weight to the decisions of higher-ranking creditors when exercising their discretion over cross-class cramdowns.
12 May 2021
Virgin Active landlord serves forfeiture as plan sanction hearing closes
Minutes before the end of Virgin Active’s five day-long contested plan sanction hearing, the court heard that the owner of one of its gym sites had served forfeiture proceedings because it said it would do better re-letting its West London premises afresh than under the plans.
05 May 2021
Valaris completes restructuring with UK administration
Two months after a Texas court confirmed its Chapter 11 plan, UK-incorporated offshore drilling contractor Valaris has completed a US$7.1 billion restructuring through a complementary pre-pack administration sale in the UK.
04 May 2021
Wind beneath my wings? Virgin Active probes court’s role in contested plans
On the fourth day of its contested UK plan hearings, counsel to Virgin Active, its secured lenders and opposing landlords clashed on how far the courts should assess the merits of restructuring plans: does satisfaction of the two conditions in Part 26A give the company “a fair wind”, or should the court be looking to see if something better is “waiting in the wings"?
04 May 2021