July 7 - Members and Subscribers - Welcome to the new and improved abi.org! - If you have not already done so, please reset your ABI password to access the site. Click "Login" and then "Forgot Password"
Jurisdictional battles are not inevitable when assets and liabilities span borders. Notwithstanding some criticism of the rigid application of standards, chapter 15 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code has proved to be a flexible and effective tool for cross-border restructuring since its enactment in 2005.[1] A popular misconception is that a chapter 15 ancillary case is not a realistic option for a corporate group with a material U.S.
Since the new Brazilian "Bankruptcy Law" (Federal Law No. 11101) was enacted on Feb. 9, 2005, and became effective on June 9, 2005, scholars and practitioners have held wide-ranging discussions about the constitutionality of some of its provisions. The new legislation represents a paradigm shift from a legal framework dating back decades as new provisions were added to protect the rights of labor and tax claimants.
As expected, the Risk Limitation Bill (Risikobegrenzungsgesetz) passed the German Parliament (Bundestag) in July, which intends to ban stakeholders acting in unison to influence the management of a listed company concerning its future or its overall business purpose. Originally, it came under fire from financial investors for being overzealous in its quest for transparency, but further legal ramifications will affect investors of all sizes.
In June 2005, the new Brazilian Bankruptcy Law (the Law) became effective. The Law took its inspiration to some extent from chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. Efforts under the previous, more rigid law (or concordata) to restructure business enterprises inevitably ended up in liquidation, which is what the Brazilian concept of bankruptcy (falência) tends to encompass. For maximum flexibility, the Law now provides for judicial reorganization, extrajudicial reorganization and liquidation.
Successful cross border asset protection and recovery efforts involve the right combination of accountancy based investigative methods, business intelligence and forensic technology expertise. This article addresses the third piece of that investigative puzzle – digital forensic methods being utilized when bank secrecy and other difficulties present barriers to collecting your evidence.
The Caribbean has long been a favorite location for persons seeking to shelter assets in offshore trusts as glamorized in popular culture in, among other things, books and movies such as The Firm. There is circuit court case law in the bankruptcy context that should give offshore asset protection planners pause when drafting their next trust instruments. In bankruptcy, the critical issue is the control, or lack thereof, afforded a debtor by a particular trust instrument.
Since China’s new Enterprise Bankruptcy Act came into force on June 1, 2007, the role and capacity of the newly created independent administrator has drawn broad attention among bankruptcy practitioners both in China and across borders. This is because the introduction of the independent administrator into the new bankruptcy proceedings, as the functional counterpart of the trustee under the Bankruptcy Code, is an important step towards a market economy in the insolvency area.
Recently the European Communication and Cooperation Guidelines For Cross-border Insolvency have been published (in our jargon called CoCo Guidelines). These Guidelines aim to overcome the cumbersome procedural model of the EC Insolvency Regulation dealing with assets of one debtor spread over several or all jurisdictions in the EU. This can add up to 26 member states (not Denmark).
Prior to its repeal with the enactment of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act, §304 provided authority for adjudicating international insolvency issues before the U.S. Bankruptcy courts where a proceeding had already been filed or would be more appropriately filed in a foreign jurisdiction. The purpose of this section was to shield American creditors and assets located within the Unites States from piecemeal distribution of assets resulting from foreign reorganization or liquidation procedures.
