International Insolvency

A panel of eminent U.S. professionals will discuss current trends in U.S. insolvencies and restructurings, explore current legislation, comment on developments in the financial sector for distressed lending and highlight any emerging trends.

This panel will discuss strategies for negotiating and confirming chapter 11 plans, from support agreements and competing plans to the proper use of releases and injunctions.

This panel will explore the breadth and limitations of U.S. Bankruptcy Code and U.S. bankruptcy court reach in the international community. There will be no discussion of chapter 15; rather, the panel will cover such issues as whether it is possible for a debtor to create jurisdiction in the U.S., and if so, whether it can and should maintain that jurisdiction. The panel will use recent cases in the maritime industry, such as Excel Maritime, General Maritime and TMT Procurement, as well as in the hospitality industry, such as Baha Mar and Scrub Island, to explore the reach of U.S. jurisdiction and the practical limitations imposed on a debtor and a court when a subset of the creditors do not care, and have little reason to be concerned about, what the Bankruptcy Code or a U.S. bankruptcy court order says. The panel will also consider the practical limitations imposed by cross-border issues in cases where there is undeniably U.S. jurisdiction, including what “critical foreign vendor” relief might be available even in U.S. courts that reject the critical-vendor doctrine, whether it is possible for a chapter 7 trustee to realize value from offshore assets, and whether the automatic stay, avoidance powers and free-and-clear orders have any practical impact in the international arena.

This panel will present a review of the current state of the law as to when a foreign entity can file a main proceeding vs. an ancillary proceeding in bankruptcy court, what interest is sufficient for a main or ancillary proceeding, cross-border insolvency protocols, challenges faced by foreign representatives (Octaviar, Rede Energia; Baha Mar, Fairfield), COMI (OAS S.A., Suntech), conflicts of law in fraudulent transfer litigation, recognition of foreign judgments in U.S. proceedings, and dealing with foreign boards or administrators of parents or subsidiaries.

This panel will cover recent developments in business bankruptcy cases at the bankruptcy and appellate levels.

After the dismissal of the Delaware filing by Baha Mar, should we assume that other cases (whether chapter 11 or chapter 15) involving non-U.S. entities filed in the U.S. will receive the same fate? This will be one of the numerous cases that will be examined in this panel on cutting-edge chapter 15 and other cross-border cases.