Regional news: Mauritius

Partner Mark Fine and senior associate Nicholas Jupp at McDermott Will & Emery in London examine two novel aspects to the restructuring plan that the English High Court sanctioned for African telecoms group Smile earlier this year: its exclusion of out-of-the-money creditors, and the fact it varied the rights of a foreign company’s shareholders.

11 May 2022

Mauritius-registered telecoms group Smile Holdings has won sanction of its restructuring plan, after the English High Court found it had jurisdiction to alter the constitution and share capital of the company without the need for a parallel plan in its place of incorporation.

30 March 2022

African telecoms group Smile Telecoms has asked the High Court in London to sanction its second restructuring plan in a year, arguing the plan is likely to be effective in its key jurisdictions of Mauritius, Nigeria and South Africa.

10 March 2022

A senior lender to African telecoms group Smile Telecoms has raised last-minute valuation issues with the company’s restructuring plan, despite the English High Court finding it was out of the money last month.

28 February 2022

Pan-African telecoms group Smile Telecoms has won approval to convene a plan meeting for a single creditor after convincing the English High Court to employ a never-before-used tool to exclude other plan participants because they are out of the money.

12 January 2022

African telecoms business Smile Telecoms is gearing up to launch another UK restructuring plan in the new year, with Kirkland & Ellis advising in place of Latham & Watkins.

20 December 2021

Luxembourg-headquartered steel producer ArcelorMittal is suing Indian conglomerate Essar Group in New York, accusing it of thwarting a US$1.4 billion arbitral award by causing a Mauritian subsidiary’s insolvency.

20 August 2021

Partner and head of Grant Thornton’s Africa insolvency & asset recovery offering Amaechi Nsofor speaks to GRR about the challenges of enforcing securities and judgments in Africa, why he expects creditors with assets in the region to turn to funding solutions, and how Grant Thornton’s asset recovery fund represents a "first mover" advantage.

29 July 2021

Offering a rare glimpse into a cross-border insolvency in Africa, a Cayman court has appointed light-touch provisional liquidators over an oil and gas company finding its intention to restructure was there, despite its “precarious” negotiations being at an early stage and creditors in Kenya trying to stall a related Mauritian administration.

01 April 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