Insolvency Blog -
Insolvency litigation funding for $173m claim
Date: 23rd January, 2007 | Author: Chris Laughton | Comments: 1
Insolvency litigation funding is a maturing industry, certainly if you believe the press reports about Insolvency Management Ltd funding a $173m claim by the liquidator against the auditors of Stone & Rolls. The details and merits of the claim need not concern us. What is important is that an "after-the-event" insurer will provide cover sufficient to enable a liquidator to issue such proceedings. Litigation is not something a liquidator can pursue lightly. Even directions hearings can lead to adverse costs orders. But the point has not been lost on the insolvency regulators that arguably liquidators have to explore - even...
Insolvency risk - the PPF’s “Purple Book”
Date: 19th January, 2007 | Author: Chris Laughton | Comments: 1
The Pensions Regulator ("TPR") and the Pension Protection Fund ("PPF") issued The Purple Book in November 2006, revealing, in addition to much wider pension risk issues, the PPF's perspective of insolvency risk, largely on the basis of Dun & Bradstreet's methodology and data. Key relevant messages include: insolvency risk is higher in companies with poorly funded or small pension schemes or in traditional industries; 0.7% of active companies go into insolvent liquidation each year, but the risk of insolvency is dramatically higher for the 5% of companies with the lowest Dun & Bradstreet failure score (ie those scoring 1 - 5). ...
Navigating the Common Law Approach to Cross-Border Insolvency
Date: 15th January, 2007 | Author: Chris Laughton | Comments: 0
Conflict of Laws .Net reports here that Look Chan Ho of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has posted Navigating the Common Law Approach to Cross-Border Insolvency on SSRN. Just when legislations are being put in place around the world to cope with cross-border insolvency (such as the implementation of the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency), the UK Privy Council in Cambridge Gas Transport Corporation v Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Navigator Holdings [2006] UKPC 26; [2006] 3 WLR 689 reminds us that the common law remains essential and is capable of development. In summary, the Privy Council held that the Isle of Man court, having...
Retail insolvencies start the year
Date: 5th January, 2007 | Author: Chris Laughton | Comments: 2
With both Greeting Card Group and Music Zone going into administration this week (reported in Financial Director), are we seeing a retail-led continuation of the last quarter's surge in UK corporate insolvency rates? It's hardly surprising to see retail administrations at this time of year - over-leveraged and under-performing retailers have minimum borrowings after the Christmas sales peak and secured creditors will naturally choose that point to stop the losses. Retail has been a risky sector for some while, and although some brands are reporting a strong Christmas season, the continuing consumer debt problem ( ...
Corporate insolvency rates to grow worldwide
Date: 3rd January, 2007 | Author: Chris Laughton | Comments: 1
In November 2006 Euler Hermes, the credit insurer, reported: Economic outlook: global insolvency to increase in 2007 The forecast suggests a peak growth rate of 10% for the USA, as highlighted by Bob Eisenbach at In The (Red), and a global average increase in business insolvency rates of 3%. The UK forecast is also 3%, but with this week's figures from Experian showing 10.7% UK corporate insolvency growth in 2006, posted here, that 3% forecast may be light....
Rising UK Corporate Insolvency Rate
Date: 2nd January, 2007 | Author: Chris Laughton | Comments: 2
Experian report a surge in formal insolvencies in the UK in Q4 2006 (see their statistics here: "Corporate failures storm to highest level for more than a decade")....
Newsfeeds
Date: 2nd January, 2007 | Author: Chris Laughton | Comments: 0
This page is currently under construction :) <?php echo SimplePieWP('http://www.google.co.uk/blogsearch?hl=en&q=%22european+insolvency%22&btnG=Search+Blogs'); ?>...
Make More Comments!
Date: 31st December, 2006 | Author: Chris Laughton | Comments: 0
Mike Sansone at ConverStations: Business Blogs as Conversation Stations recommends commenting on blogs you read. To me, that's what business blogging is all about. Otherwise the blog can become a monologue - a challenging form for most authors to make interesting! ...
Uncertainty in the UNCITRAL Model Law and the European Insolvency Regulation?
Date: 29th December, 2006 | Author: Chris Laughton | Comments: 0
Although he describes Judge Drain's decision in In re SPhinX Ltd as pragmatic and commercial, Chris Mallon of Weil, Gotshal & Manges uses the case in an article entitled: Bankruptcy Blunder to illustrate his view that the uncertainty inherent in the Model Law makes credit-risk assessment very difficult and encourages forum shopping (and he expresses similar concern about the European Insolvency Regulation). I think the benefits of legislation encouraging cooperation between insolvency regimes far outweigh the risks of forum shopping. Of course parties will seek to gain advantage from any perceived uncertainty and some courts may react less predictably than others,...
Chapter 15, the UNCITRAL Model Law, COMI and non-main proceedings
Date: 29th December, 2006 | Author: Chris Laughton | Comments: 0
In a review of the first year of enactment of Chapter 15 of the US Bankruptcy Code (which is based on the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency) Mark Douglas of Jones Day considers the concepts of main and non-main proceedings and of COMI (centre of main interests) by reference to In re SPhinX Ltd and In re Tri-Continental Exchange Ltd under the title: Chapter 15 Turns One: Ironing Out the Details. I side with the view that the new legislation affords the courts the flexibility to protect stakeholders' interests and prevent forum shopping abuse. ...
