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In recent times, global businesses based all over the world have often turned to chapter 11 or the English scheme of arrangement to implement their debt restructurings, often due to the failure of local restructuring and insolvency laws to provide an adequate or optimal restructuring solution. This has led to the development of “restructuring hubs” or “nodal” jurisdictions, and forum-selection has become a necessary part of devising a restructuring strategy in many cross-border situations in order to deliver the best outcome.

Author’s Note: Australia has a debtor-in-possession insolvency system administered by insolvency practitioners.

The term “silver lining” comes from Milton’s Comus, in which the silver lining is the light of the moon shining behind a cloud.[2] It is very difficult to find a silver lining in the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused more than 500,000 deaths in the U.S. and 2.4 million deaths worldwide.[3] There have been some positives in how people have come together to address the crisis, and to adapt and adjust to the conditions created by the crisis.

In Canadian proceedings, it had previously been common for assets of the debtor to be conveyed to a purchaser through the granting of a vesting order. Normally, the court supervising the relevant insolvency proceeding in approving the transaction would issue an order that title to the purchased assets would vest in the purchaser “free and clear” of the claims of the vendors’ creditors. Instead, the purchase price proceeds would stand in place of the purchased assets.

2020 was undoubtedly a massive challenge for all countries, but it was especially dramatic for Brazil, which has been severely hit by coronavirus outbreak. Among the most affected countries, Brazil is fighting one of the biggest battles of its history, with a little over 10 million cases so far and a case-fatality rate of 2.4%.

The UNCITRAL Draft Recommendations on a simplified insolvency regime (“Recommendations”)[1] is a model of legislative regulation concerning the insolvency of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs)[2]. The model was crafted by UNCITRAL Working Group V in May 2020.

The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Working Group V has been working on a simplified insolvency regime for six sessions because “[m]icro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) (MSEs) constitute the majority of businesses in economies around the world.”[1] Its efforts are aimed at ameliorating the effects of rigid insolvency schemes that stifle the efforts of small business enterprises to reorganize.