Regional news: Europe
Akin Gump hires three partners, opens office in Boston
Kirkland & Ellis debt finance partner Josh Peary has moved to Akin Gump’s new Boston office, days after the firm added new partners to its special situations and private credit teams In New York and London.
03 March 2023
English court approves securities transfer in UK’s first-ever unsecured credit bid
The English High Court has approved what is believed to be the first-ever unsecured credit bid for an insolvent company’s assets in the UK, in a case the judge described as “remarkable” at a two-day hearing last week.
02 March 2023
E.ON, British Gas and Scottish Power ask English court to unwind Bulb transfer
Three of the UK’s largest energy suppliers have asked the English High Court to review Bulb Energy's sale to rival Octopus, arguing the bidding process in the country’s first-ever special energy supply company administration was “fundamentally unfair”.
01 March 2023
Madrid courts reveal new guidance on pre-packs
Five months after Spain introduced formal pre-pack procedures into its national legislation, the Madrid courts have issued guidelines on how to use them, which local lawyers say will provide greater transparency and clarity.
28 February 2023
Weil counsel joins Reed Smith in London
Reed Smith has recruited a new partner from Weil Gotshal & Manges in London, who brings with him 20 years of experience advising banks and hedge funds on international and domestic restructurings.
28 February 2023
Adler convening judgment sheds light on cross-border, cross-class questions left to sanction stage
Mr Justice Mann has issued his reasons for deciding to let German real estate group Adler convene six UK plan meetings while postponing certain key issues to the sanction stage – including a point about “artificiality” of voting classes that the judge confessed he did not really understand.
27 February 2023
Adler secures UK plan meetings for six creditor classes
German real estate group Adler has persuaded an English judge to let it hold plan meetings for six creditor classes next month, leaving complaints over the substitution of the notes’ issuer for a UK subsidiary to the sanction stage – but a bondholder has already stated it will “imminently” pursue similar complaints in a German court.
24 February 2023
Administrators’ costs face scrutiny in UK’s first special energy administration
An English judge has adjourned two costs applications by administrators appointed in the UK’s first-ever energy supply company administration so an independent insolvency practitioner can scrutinise their work.
24 February 2023
Russo-British bank’s administrators seek High Court nod for “remarkable” securities transfer
The special administrators of Russo-British investment bank Sova Capital have asked an English court to approve a “remarkable” transaction swapping an unsecured creditor’s claims for its portfolio of Russian securities, against opposition from another creditor.
23 February 2023
Crypto exchange bankruptcies and DeFi lending: an English law response to the question of avoidable preferences
Howard Morris, head of business restructuring and insolvency at Morrison Foerster in London, considers whether and in what circumstances cryptoasset withdrawals from a distressed exchange might amount to avoidable preferences under English insolvency law.
23 February 2023