To Our Clients and Friends:
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought untold pain and suffering throughout the globe with no end in sight. Not only has it taken its toll in terms of deaths and illnesses but the economic impact has been severe. Unemployment has skyrocketed and businesses have been terribly affected, with shutdowns and loss of sales. The impact has been felt everywhere. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warned in its recently issued report that the world economy is facing the most severe recession in a century and could experience a halting recovery. And, in a news conference I just watched today, the US Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, warned that the depth of the downturn and the pace of the recovery remained “extraordinarily uncertain.”
All of this suggests that restructuring and insolvency professionals should expect a very busy time in the days and months ahead. In this issue of the International Restructuring Newswire, we offer some analysis and guidance on developments in some of the various jurisdictions where Norton Rose Fulbright lawyers practice insolvency law. These articles focus on changes and developments that courts and practitioners are implementing to deal with the fallout from the pandemic.
In Australia, our lawyers review the voluntary administration process and how the courts are exercising their discretion to adapt the process to the COVID-19 pandemic. We also take a look in the UK on recent judicial developments in the law relating to restructuring through administration, with a particular focus on the government’s Job Retention Scheme and recent relevant cases. The economic impact of the pandemic will be weighing heavily on global businesses. As such, we take a fresh look at recent developments relating to the recognition and enforcement of foreign insolvency proceedings. A number of recent court decisions have provided new guidance in this area of the law in the US and we separately review the European perspective on determining COMI, the key concept of center of main interests. In that regard, in this issue, we also comment on the first case out of Hong Kong granting recognition and assistance to bankruptcy administrators appointed in insolvency proceedings in mainland China. And in Canada, our lawyers review the recent amendments to the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, generally known as the CCAA.
We hope you all find this issue to be helpful as we all navigate through these difficult and turbulent times.
Stay safe,
Howard Seife
Global Head
Financial Restructuring and Insolvency
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