Features

Stay up to date with the latest features and issues from the global financial markets:

The current work by UNCITRAL in the area of insolvency law

By Samira Musayeva, UNCITRAL Secretariat, Office of Legal Affairs, United Nations

The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) was established by the General Assembly in 1966 as the core legal body within the United Nations system in the field of international trade law. Considering that divergencies arising from laws of different States in matters relating to international trade constitute one of the obstacles to the development of world trade, the Commission was entrusted with the mandate to further the progressive harmonisation, modernisation and unification of the law of international trade.

Japan’s finance markets hit by COVID-19 shock

By Hajime Ueno, Nishimura & Asahi

Japan’s financing markets, as well as the overall economy, was of course not immune to the impact of the globally-spread pandemic of COVID-19. To the date, Japan has been one of the more fortunate regions/nations to experience lesser severity in terms of the fatality-population ratio and other medical statistics; however, we have yet to see the end to COVID-19’s impact. No one can yet be sure of the true impact COVID-19 brought about to the nation’s economy, much less the continued effect of the novel coronavirus.

Challenges of emerging market restructurings in the age of Covid-19

By Steven T. Kargman, Kargman Associates

Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the global economy has entered fairly treacherous territory. Global economic growth has already contracted very sharply in the first half of 2020, and in a recently released report, the World Bank forecast in a baseline scenario that global GDP could shrink by 5.2% for the full calendar year 2020 which the World Bank indicated would be the deepest global recession since World War II.

INSOL International: New challenges

By Julie Hertzberg, President, INSOL International

I began my Presidency in Singapore at the conclusion of our annual conference with over 950 participants from 69 countries. Approximately 112 judges from those countries participated in a closed-door Judicial Colloquium, brainstorming ways to enhance cooperation within cross-border legal disputes. Like all of you, I never could have imagined we would be faced with a global pandemic within 12 months of that event. As professionals within the crisis management and restructuring community, we are accustomed to approaching each new hardship as a challenge and that of Covid-19 is no different. It has been energising and inspiring to work with the Board and staff at INSOL in rising to this challenge and building on the successes of my predecessor, Adam Harris to ensure we remain forward focused, relevant and achieve another year of valuable contributions to our members and the global insolvency and restructuring industry at-large.

Debt capital markets: Helping lenders scale climate finance in emerging markets

By Peter Cashion and Peer Stein, International Finance Corporation

There is an enormous business opportunity for climate finance in emerging markets. Over the next decade, it is estimated that there are at least US$23 trillion in climate-smart investment opportunities, including green buildings, renewables, transportation, energy efficiency, waste management, and agriculture. And this doesn’t even include the growing need for adaptation finance. Global capital markets — and debt capital markets in particular — are critical to enabling this transition.

Securitisation in Luxembourg – a vibrant market with a flexible toolbox

By Andreas Heinzmann, GSK Stockmann

The Luxembourg law of March 22, 2004 on securitisation undertakings, as amended (the Securitisation Law) and the Regulation (EU) 2017/2402 of the European Parliament and of the Council of December 12, 2017 laying down a general framework for securitisation and creating a specific framework for simple, transparent and standardised securitisation (the EU Securitisation Regulation) apply […]

Johnston Press PLC – Restructure by pre-pack administration

By Simon Schiff and Paul Cattermole, Global Loan Agency Services Limited (“GLAS”)

Following a strategic review, the restructuring and asset sale of British newspaper group Johnston Press PLC and its subsidiaries (the “Group”) to JPI Media (“JPI”) (a newly incorporated company) was implemented by way of a pre-pack administration (a “Pre-Pack”) in November 2018. Key to the transaction was the restructuring of the debt of the Group as approved by a majority of bondholders as the secured creditors of the Group. The outstanding bonds were partially written down and replaced with new notes in the form of senior notes, senior secured notes and equity. GLAS companies acted as note trustee and security agent on the original bonds and agent and security agent on the new notes as well as tabulation agent, information agent, lock-up agent, holding period trustee, calculation agent and escrow agent.

How new asset classes and innovative structures are deepening the structured finance market in India

By Anshul Gupta and Harshit Rathi, Northern Arc Capital

Northern Arc has been at the forefront of innovation in the Indian structured finance market and over the past decade has launched many new structures and developed multiple non-conventional asset classes in India. Some of the structures it has pioneered include Multi Originator Securitisation (MOSEC®), India’s first Collateralised Loan Obligation (CLO) post Reserve Bank of India’s guidelines in 2012, Replenishment Based Persistent Securitisation (PerSec™), Single Originator Partially Credit Enhanced (SPiCE™) Bond and Pooled Bond/Loan issuance.

New life for US RMBS?

By John Levonick, Pepper Hamilton, LLP

The Ability-to-Repay and Qualified Mortgage regulation, to the TILA Amendments of the Dodd-Frank Act, was the US government’s response to the mortgage meltdown crisis of the 2000s. This rule is due for an amendment because of the sunsetting of an exemption to the strict Qualified Mortgage requirements, that was granted to loans guaranteed by the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) or the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac).

Bond offerings and liability management exercises by sovereign and quasi-sovereign issuers

by Reuven Young and Radoslaw Michalak, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP

Recent years have seen increased activity in the capital markets space by sovereign and quasi-sovereign issuers, including a number of “green bond” issuances and refinancings of outstanding debt. With this trend expected to continue, it is timely to analyse the options available to government issuers planning to issue debt in the international capital markets or engage in liability management exercises.

A selective history of Dutch residential mortgage lending

By Merijn Bosman and Jasper Koops, Dynamic Credit Partners Europe B.V.

The Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana once observed that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. In this article several turning points in the history of residential mortgage lending in the Netherlands are discussed. In chronological order this article will discuss the prevalence of peer-to-peer lending in the pre-1850 era, the rise of specialised mortgage banks in the 1860 to 1950 period, the dominance of financial-services conglomerates in the 1960-2013 period and the rise of non-bank lenders in the post-2013 period.