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As Canada moves toward marijuana legalization in 2018, the cannabis industry is quickly emerging as one of the most promising Canadian markets. Early estimates predict that the medical/recreational cannabis industry will reach $10 billion by 2020, offering exciting opportunities for astute entrepreneurs.

The new safe harbour from insolvent trading is the most significant change to corporate insolvency law in Australia since the introduction of voluntary administration in 1993. Before the reform was enacted, directors of insolvent companies were effectively mandated to appoint a voluntary administrator. The new safe harbour encourages directors to attempt an informal turnaround upon insolvency rather than immediately appointing a voluntary administrator or liquidator.

Background: Insolvent Trading Prohibition and Voluntary Administration

The collapse of the Urbancorp group of companies has provided an opportunity for an unusual interplay of bankruptcy proceedings between Canada and Israel. The courts in both countries have had to address issues and demonstrate significant judicial cooperation between two countries with vastly different legal systems. This article provides a brief background around the companies and touches on three of the orders that are of interest to practitioners from an international perspective.

The recent decision by the Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) in Canada v Callidus Capital Corporation[1] has turned on its head the commonly understood ordering of priorities amongst secured creditors and the Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) “deemed trust” claims in and out of bankruptcy proceedings.

The Brazilian Bankruptcy Law — enacted in February 2005 — has not adopted the UNCITRAL Model Law regarding transnational insolvency. In fact, Brazilian law is laconic in this regard and only says that the court of the place where the debtor has its main establishment or where the branch of a foreign company is located is the competent court to grant judicial reorganization or to declare the debtor bankrupt (art. 3º). Such legal provision is evidently insufficient to deal with as complex an issue as transnational bankruptcy and judicial reorganization.

For the Cayman Islands insolvency community, 2017 could fairly be called the Year of the Redeeming Shareholder. The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the ultimate appeal court for Cayman and several other important offshore jurisdictions, delivered two judgments originating from the Cayman Islands this past year. Both cases involved litigation between court-appointed liquidators of insolvent hedge funds and investors in those funds who had redeemed their shares in the fund before the liquidations.