Regional news: Africa & Middle East

Simmons & Simmons has hired Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner’s EMEA head of restructuring in London, labelling the practice area “an investment priority” for the firm.

01 March 2021

An investment manager that operated within UAE private equity group Abraaj has failed to obtain documents from the Cayman liquidators of an Abraaj subsidiary, after a court blocked it from bringing litigation due to third-party confidentiality concerns.

01 March 2021

A BVI court has blocked the enforcement of a deed held by a local arm of Harneys, after an Australian judge found it was subject to an Australian administration moratorium that has effect in foreign jurisdictions.

26 February 2021

A BVI appeal court has upheld the local recognition of an Israeli personal bankruptcy but found that the bankrupt’s Israeli officeholder cannot be granted assistance, a decision the court said it came to “with some regret”.

24 February 2021

In separate actions in Australia, the voluntary administrators of a Congolese gold mine owner have secured permission to serve a security interest claim on a Harneys arm in the BVI, while a Queensland court is to consider recognising a Singaporean personal bankruptcy.

23 February 2021

A pan-African telecoms group that shifted its COMI from Mauritius to England in January has filed restructuring plan proceedings in London to secure new money to tide it over while it completes a sales process.

19 February 2021

A US investor linked to Centerbridge Partners has agreed to withdraw its application to appoint a Dutch restructuring expert over South African conglomerate Steinhoff, while the group’s former auditor Deloitte has pledged €70 million to support a global settlement of litigation claims.

15 February 2021

Namibia’s government said it will file for the voluntary liquidation of the country’s flag carrier, two weeks after the airline reached an agreement over historic unpaid debts with Belgium’s defunct ChallengeAir.

15 February 2021

Featured in Unpacked

GRR investigates how the Australian parent of a Congolese copper miner became the first company in the common law world to implement a guarantor’s scheme of arrangement, against a “well-funded, well-advised” opposing creditor and where restructuring in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or England was deemed possible, but impractical.

12 February 2021

Alvarez & Marsal has appointed the interim CFO of struggling hospital operator NMC Healthcare to lead its Middle East restructuring practice in Dubai.

11 February 2021