To our clients and friends

We are all seeing challenging times ahead. The war in Ukraine rages on. The surge in the cost of energy and goods and the supply and trade disruptions look set to continue for some time as the geo political picture plays out and countries look to protect themselves to weather this storm. The World Bank Group's Global Economic Prospects report issued in June 2022 forecasts a "sizeable downgrade to the outlook" with global growth expected to slow from 5.7 percent in 2021 to 2.9 percent this year.

Rising costs of goods and energy and the resulting slump in consumer demand will inevitably have a damaging effect on businesses and their counterparts whether they are regionally or globally focussed. Governments are having to continue to look at ways they can ease business strain and encourage investment which has in many jurisdictions led to changes to insolvency laws in recent years. We continue to believe that being prepared by keeping up to date with all the options open to companies is key.

In this issue, our colleagues in Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and the US examine some recent decisions that question some of our well-trodden rules and conventions on the use of restructuring and foreign recognition processes to write off debt and on aircraft lessors' rights to their assets under the Cape Town Convention following the Australian High Court's decision in Virgin Australia. In addition, we look at the possible revival of pre-packs in the Netherlands, the EU recognition of UK restructuring plans and schemes of arrangement following Brexit and finally, we take a look at the UNCITRAL Model Law on cross border insolvency 25 years on from its introduction. 

• Hong Kong Court comments on the interplay between the Rule in Gibbs and Chapter 15 recognition
• The pre-pack in the Netherlands may very shortly revive
• Overcoming Gibbs: Restructuring of English law-governed liabilities in Europe
• The Model Law on cross-border insolvency: A silver lining, but not a silver bullet
• High Court of Australia decision in the Virgin Australia administration: A world first under Alternative A of the Cape Town Convention and Aircraft Protocol

We hope you find these articles useful.

Howard Seife
Global Head
Bankruptcy, Financial Restructuring and Insolvency

Sarah Coucher
Global FRI Strategic Initiative
Director

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