Topic: Avoidance/clawback

A two-week trial is under way in London to consider the validity of the Galapagos group’s heavily contested 2019 restructuring, which left its private equity shareholder in place and high yield noteholders with nothing – and a German insolvency administrator has already asked the court not to make any findings of fact because they could result in inconsistent rulings across Europe.

10 March 2023

In two historic decisions concerning unfair preferences, the Australian High Court has found that a creditor cannot set-off a liquidator’s claim against it, and upheld the abolishment of the “peak indebtedness rule” while establishing when liquidators should start calculating preference payments in a running account.

21 February 2023

Lawyers have welcomed the European Commission’s latest proposal to harmonise insolvency laws across member states, which it says aims to encourage cross-border investment within the bloc.

08 December 2022

Crypto platform Celsius is facing a new adversary claim in Manhattan from holders of around US$22.5 million in so-called “custody wallets”, who say they retain title to their digital assets unlike other depositors and should be exempted from its pause on withdrawals – just as the debtor asked its Chapter 11 judge for permission to return US$50 million in such accounts.

05 September 2022

Bob Wessels, professor emeritus of international insolvency law at Leiden University and expert counsel on restructuring and insolvency to the European Commission, asks a complex question arising from a simple, everyday occurrence: is a payment to someone residing or located in another EU member state, who is already insolvent, legally valid?

22 August 2022

A court in Australia has made the first ruling invoking anti-phoenixing laws introduced two years ago, in a case where a translation company’s assets were sold to an entity controlled by its sole director’s sister, minutes before a resolution to wind it up.

27 May 2022

An English court has made an “exceptional” ruling that the Russian trustee overseeing the personal bankruptcy of former Vneshprombank owner Georgy Bedzhamov should pay a security to cover his costs of defending a recognition application, which has been remitted to the High Court after being set aside on appeal.

29 April 2022

Granting fresh security for an existing debt does not constitute a transaction at an undervalue in principle – but granting it for a third-party debt may do so, the Singapore Court of Appeal has found, addressing the issues in the jurisdiction for the first time.

29 March 2022

Jurisdictional battles surrounding the restructuring of the Galapagos group have reached the European Court of Justice, in a ruling on which courts have jurisdiction to open insolvency proceedings where there has been centre of main interests shift to the UK, then potentially to Germany, against the backdrop of Brexit.

25 March 2022

The liquidating trust of bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange Cred Inc is trying to clawback over US$21 million worth of bitcoin it says the company fraudulently transferred to a high-profile investor in exchange for a worthless bond.

21 February 2022