loration and production (“E&P”) companies are confronting the harshest industry environment in decades. E&P companies experienced a drastic deterioration in prices for their oil and natural gas production during the second half of 2014, which remained at depressed levels throughout 2015. The velocity and steepness of the decline has resulted in deteriorating operating cash flows, results of operations and financial condition for many E&P companies ...
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On December 11, 2015, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC,” or the “Commission”) issued re-proposed rules (the “Proposed Rules”), as authorized under Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank Act”) ...
The Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) adopted the final rules to Regulation Crowdfunding on October 30, 2015, which implemented Title III of the JOBS Act to allow companies to raise capital through crowdfunding. The final rules are codified as Regulation Crowdfunding in furtherance of Section 4(a)(6) of the Securities Act of 1933 ...
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“Federal Circuit”), in In re Simon Shiao Tam, held the seventy-year old disparagement clause of Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act unconstitutional on December 22, 2015. Under Section 2(a), a trademark shall be refused registration if it consists of “matter which may disparage…persons, living or dead… or bring them into contempt, or disrepute ...
The main provisions of the Restructuring Law of 15 May 2015 enter into force on 1 January 2016. It will serve one of the foundations of commercial law in Poland, enabling effective restructuring of insolvent enterprises. The Restructuring Law sets forth the rules for the Polish courts to conduct four separate types of restructuring procedures. It also introduces a range of major changes to the Bankruptcy & Recovery Law of 2003, which from 1 January 2016 is renamed the Bankruptcy Law ...
As part of its effort to eliminate the risk of taxpayer-funded bail-outs of European banks, the European Union undertook a new “bail-in” regime beginning on January 1, 2016, implementing rules which require banks and some other market participants in EU member states to write-down, cancel, convert into equity or otherwise modify certain unsecured liabilities if such steps are required to recapitalize the institution.To red the full alert, click here ...
Recent reports indicate that the number of mergers that were challenged by stockholders during the fourth quarter of 2015 dropped significantly, with estimates ranging from 34% to 21%.1 This is a seismic shift from prior years, when almost 95% of public company transactions resulted in litigation. The drop in lawsuits is attributable to a series of rulings by the Delaware Court of Chancery during the second half of last year ...
This past year has seen many changes in the community banking industry. Some of these issues we expected and some had more of an impact than maybe we would have thought. As we reflect and look forward to 2016, we asked several of our colleagues to weigh in regarding what we saw, what we expect and how to best prepare for the coming new year. Timothy R ...
For better or worse, lenders have become increasingly familiar with the strange dynamic that is the post-bankruptcy minefield created by their borrowers filing a bankruptcy petition. Immediately, lenders begin thinking about how they can minimize the write-off, how they can reduce exposure, how they can avoid violations of the automatic stay, whether they can convince a borrower to reaffirm debt, and many other questions that often must be analyzed situationally ...
Virtual currencies are once again at the forefront of discussion about top issues facing community banks and the financial industry as a whole. The Independent Community Bankers of America (“ICBA”), a trade association representing more than 6,500 community banks, recently published its list of top issues for the fourth quarter of 2015. Among them were the risks associated with virtual currencies ...
This week, in Teladoc, Inc. v. Texas Medical Board, 1-15-CV-343 RP, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, in one of the first federal decisions interpreting North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners v. Federal Trade Commission, 135 S. Ct. 1101 (2015), denied the Texas Medical Board immunity from an antitrust claim in a narrow reading of the state-action immunity doctrine. To read the full alert, click here ...
On November 14, 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered three decisions on the application of the the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, RSC 1985, c. B-3 (BIA) and its interaction with certain provincial statutes.OVERVIEW OF THE FACTSIn Saskatchewan (Attorney General) v. Lemare Lake Logging Ltd. Ltd ...
The Delaware Division of Corporations (the “Division”) recently announced that effective December 1, 2015, its Uniform Commercial Code (“UCC”) filing office will no longer accept paper UCC filings submitted directly to the State of Delaware via regular mail, courier or fax. The Division will instead require that all UCC filings be submitted to the Division electronically.To read the full alert, click here ...
The September 2015 issue of the International Financial Law Review (IFLR) included an international briefing article by SyCipLaw partner Arlene M. Maneja entitled “Competition law enacted.”Download a PDF copy of the article or read the article online at the IFLR website ...
The Philippines section of The Mergers & Acquisitions Review 9th Edition contains an overview of M&A activity in the country, general introduction to the legal framework for M&A, developments in corporate and takeover law and their impact, foreign involvement in M&A transactions, significant transactions, key trends and hot industries, financing of M&A, main sources and developments, employment law, tax law, competition law, and outlook ...
The Philippine chapter of Getting the Deal Through: Islamic Finance & Markets 2016 was contributed by SyCipLaw Managing Partner Rafael A. Morales with Amer Hussein N. Mambuay. The chapter includes information on policies, legislation and supervision covering Islamic finance in the Philippines, contracting concepts, products, and updates and trends ...
Last October 30, the provincial government announced the creation of 'Passeport Entreprises', an action plan focused on two main points: to facilitate access by businesses to government contracts and make the Quebec government's tendering processes more transparent and rigorous ...
Since the new Chinese government came into power in 2013, it has proposed a host of new strategies to realise the “Chinese Dream”. One of the more significant strategies, led personally by President Xi Jinping, is known as “One Belt, One Road” plan, which will have a huge, undeniable impact on the global economy over the next 10 years. The One Belt, One Road strategy aims to provide a comprehensive roadmap for partnership between China and the rest of the world ...
As of 3 February 2016, the new Law on Consensual Financial Restructuring (“Law”) will introduce an improved framework for voluntary debt restructuring in Serbia (“Restructuring”). The Law was adopted as a part of a national strategy to address the increasing number of non-performing loans in the country, which was adopted in August 2015 (“Strategy”).[1] The Law will replace the existing Law on Consensual Financial Restructuring of 2011, which produced modest results in practice ...
Modern day company law has largely moved away from the concept of “ultra vires” which sought to limit the ability of a company to enter into transactions outside its stated objects. The British Virgin Islands officially moved away from the concept in 2005 pursuant to provisions under the BVI Business Companies Act ...
Known worldwide for its robust shipping registry, trusts, funds, and corporate law sectors, the British Virgin Islands is emerging as a globally competitive jurisdiction for registering and protecting intellectual property, thanks to the enactment of the highly anticipated Trade Mark Act, 2013. The Act, which clarifies, protects, and streamlines the trademark processes, institutes beneficial legal proceedings and conditions for the welfare of intellectual and industrial properties in the BVI ...
To incubate is to keep something in a suitable environment for a term where it can develop to its full potential. Increasingly, the concept is being applied to hedge funds, where “to incubate” implies structured conditions for the development and verification of investment strategies over time. As such, an incubator fund is ideal for start-up and emerging managers who do not have much capital but aim to attract greater sums of capital in the near future ...
The Canada Public Sector Pension Investment Board launches a lawsuit against Saba Capital: Lessons for fund managers when valuing illiquid securitiesOn September 25, 2015 the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (the “PSP Investment Board”) filed a lawsuit before the New York State Supreme Court against Saba Capital, the hedge fund managed by Boaz Weinstein (the former co-chief of the credit business at Deutsche Bank AG), for allegedly “manipulating the value” of certain of Saba Capital’s inve
Systemic amendments to Poland’s Bankruptcy & Recovery Law enter into force on 1 January 2016. The main goal of the amendment is to create separate restructuring proceedings governed by the new Restructuring Law. Restructuring proceedings are to replace the former bankruptcy proceedings involving conclusion of an arrangement, as well as recovery proceedings, currently conducted under the Bankruptcy & Recovery Law ...
