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In response to the housing needs of its people, Malaysia has allowed private housing developer companies to build houses on a sell-then-build basis. Despite having legislation designed to protect the interests of purchasers, insolvent housing developers have left behind many uncompleted housing projects with their land charged to financial institutions. Consequently, the affected purchasers will lose their houses when those financial institutions foreclose on the land in the housing projects. In addition, those purchasers remain legally obligated to repay loans taken to finance their house purchase. The housing development laws lack provisions to rehabilitate abandoned housing projects. The purpose of this paper is to explore the viability of rescue mechanisms in the Companies Act 2016, being corporate voluntary arrangement (CVA), judicial management (JM) and schemes of arrangement (SOA), to aid in the rehabilitation of abandoned housing projects in Peninsular Malaysia.

Doctrinal research is adopted in this paper.

This research highlights the flexibility of the SOA as a tool to rehabilitate abandoned housing projects. This research also reveals the potential of CVA and in particular, JM with its “public interest” feature, as useful rehabilitation mechanisms once the proposed reforms are adopted.

The authors are hopeful that the suggested reforms will enhance the value of all three rescue mechanisms as rehabilitation tools for abandoned housing projects so as to alleviate the plight of house purchasers.

Nontraditional lenders are important credit providers for farmers. However, previous research has found that farmers who use nontraditional lenders are riskier lending opportunities. Using a unique dataset of Chapter 12 bankruptcy cases, the authors analyze the share of payment that is made or allowed by the courts on debt owed to traditional and nontraditional lenders.

The authors use a Tobit model to calculate parameter estimates and marginal effects of the impact of creditor type (traditional/nontraditional) and debt classification (secured, priority and unsecured) on the proportion of a bankruptcy claim that lenders receive or are expected to receive when a case is discharged.

The authors find that traditional lenders with secured debt receive a greater repayment than nontraditional lenders. Meanwhile, there are more than twice the number of nontraditional lenders that are owed debt in these bankruptcy claims. While this raises concern for nontraditional lenders, that is mitigated some by the level of debt that is on average about one-sixth the size of the average debt of traditional lenders. Finally, the authors show there are numerous opportunities for future research in this area using case level bankruptcy data.

This paper fills a research gap by focusing on the state of nontraditional lenders in Chapter 12 bankruptcy cases and their treatment in discharged cases.

The purpose of this paper is to consider the effect of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 on the property rights of third parties, by evaluating whether the interpretation of the scheme of the PMLA, 2002 results in a deprivation of rights, by virtue of the provision for the provisional attachment of property.[AQ3] In doing so, this paper attempts to consider two sub-categories of third parties that stand affected by §5 of the PMLA, 2002.

Primarily the authors analyse diverging judgements and case law across various high courts to evaluate the position of law with regards to attachment of property. To reach a precise legal conclusion, the authors consider the composite scheme of the PMLA, 2002 in their analysis.

It has been concluded that there is a clear lack of judicial cohesion in the interpretation of the PMLA, 2002, and in the absence of a judgement by the Supreme Court of India, enforcement authorities have failed to correctly identify the boundaries of the offence of money laundering, resulting in a dangerous deprivation of rights.

This paper fills a vacuum of detailed scholarship on anti-money laundering provisions in India, while also being contemporaneously relevant, as it considers the effects of the PMLA, 2002 on bona fide economic transactions and secured creditors.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of bankruptcy protection duration of Canadian public firms, and also investigate the duration for various bankruptcy outcomes including the liquidation and re-emergence of bankrupt firms.

This study uses data on all Canadian public firms that applied for bankruptcy protection over the period 1992–2014. The authors mainly apply duration and survival analyses to draw the main conclusions.

The authors find that larger and older firms with more complicated structures and issues to settle tend to remain under protection from creditors longer, and also ascertain that the fate of relatively successful companies is determined faster. Moreover, the authors report that it takes less time to achieve a final solution for firms under bankruptcy protection when interest rates are increasing and the term spread is high. Finally, firms that file for protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) spend longer restructuring than firms that file under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.

The paper investigates only publicly listed firms. The data on private firms that are required to conduct the research are not available.

Various stakeholders including regulators can predict the bankruptcy protection period using the paper’s findings. Depending on the desired outcomes (reduce uncertainly, safeguard jobs or protect creditors’ rights), specific rules can be followed.

To the authors; knowledge, this is the first paper that investigates the Canadian bankruptcy protection duration. It uses the unique Canadian framework to infer the determinants of bankruptcy protection duration and bankrupt firms’ outcomes.

The purpose of the paper is to analyze the new Bankruptcy Law in Saudi Arabia (KSA Bankruptcy Law) under both a comparative lens and a policy-oriented one, while highlighting some of the most essential operational steps and procedures in a bankruptcy proceeding under the law.

The approach adopted analyzes the specific mechanics and procedures of a bankruptcy law under the general policies and goals of bankruptcy. Additionally, where appropriate, a brief comparison to the US Bankruptcy code and its provisions is presented to provide an alternative approach on how similar issues are handled under a reputable and proven bankruptcy system.

Overall, the KSA Bankruptcy Law is a major accomplishment and advancement to the Kingdom’s insolvency regime. The law consolidated and codified the laws governing bankruptcy under the Kingdom’s prior regime, and followed the structure of a modern bankruptcy regime. In doing so, several of the law’s policies and objectives have been fulfilled by providing an effective, predictable and reliable bankruptcy system.

Given the relatively recent adoption of the KSA Bankruptcy Law, the paper provides a comprehensive assessment of the law’s operation and its effectiveness in achieving its policy goals as a modern bankruptcy law.

The traditional form of legal research with its predominant emphasis on doctrinal and theoretical analysis is now increasingly augmented by empirical research that seeks to document actions and decisions and draw broader conclusions. This relatively new research tradition is arguably making a positive contribution to legal theory and practice, particularly in the USA [for a general discussion see SJ Lubben, “Do Empricial Bankruptcy Studies Matter?” (2012) 20 ABI L Rev 715]. The paper aims to report on the use of empirical research to examine corporate governance in the context of financially distressed UK public companies.

The paper uses statutory corporate filings and mandatory stock exchange reports to document the process of informal debt resolution prior to the company’s entry into administration or Company Voluntary Arrangement. The findings are presented in an innovative way as a series of case studies focusing on process, participants and outcomes of informal debt resolution.

The paper concludes that it is possible to use case study research as a means to explore corporate governance in the context of financially distressed companies. Although such an approach is challenging in various ways, there are some advantages that complement more traditional research approaches. The findings show how directors’ attention shifts away from shareholders’ interests to those of creditors at times of financial distress and challenges conventional models of governance that stress shareholder value.

The distinctive features of the research are the development of a case-study based approach that draws on publicly available data sources, a process based analysis and a synthesis of corporate governance and law.

This paper focuses on the British company voluntary arrangement (CVA) which is a relatively new debtor rehabilitation process particularly intended to help financially troubled small firms resolve their difficulties. Based on a survey that is the largest and most comprehensive on the subject of British CVAs, this paper has three principal objectives: (i) to outline the characteristics of CVAs; (ii) to examine the relationships between CVA success and context; and (iii) to provide managerial and policy recommendations based on these findings. Among other things, the study finds that the overwhelming majority of CVAs are employed by small firms and that they can be particularly successful as a means of recovery when the economic fundamentals of the business are sound, regardless of the line of activity of the firm. Higher levels of success might be achieved, however, if the fixed costs of CVAs were subsidised in the case of very small firms and if more time were allowed during the process.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to consider the effectiveness of insolvency law given the increase in companies facing financial distress. Current insolvency law was not designed in the context of the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic. Therefore, it may not provide the framework needed to assist the rehabilitation of distressed companies that is important to economic recovery. The purpose of this paper is to briefly discuss the rethinking of insolvency law policy with a view to maximising opportunities for rescue and rehabilitation.

The commentary offers suggestions on how insolvency law can maximise opportunities for rehabilitation. The approach is to consider competing theoretical perspectives on the objective of insolvency law and provide commentary on rethinking key insolvency law provisions to better meet the needs of distressed businesses in the unprecedented circumstances of the pandemic and into the future.

This paper concludes that in the context of the pandemic insolvency policy that is value-based and debtor-friendly is needed to promote rehabilitation. Insolvency law should refocus on debtors and rehabilitation rather than being excessively focussed on the interest of creditors.

This paper offers a unique and timely commentary on the capacity of insolvency law to respond to the unforeseen COVD-19 pandemic.

This paper aims to revisit the Indian experience on corporate bankruptcy law to answer “why Indian corporate insolvency law structured differently from a manager-driven (pre-Insolvency Code) to manager-displacing model (post-Insolvency Code)?”

This paper is qualitative in nature. The paper analyses the prevailing theoretical wisdom in corporate insolvency law in India and examines the practices of Indian bankruptcy regime.

The authors argued, considering the corporate ownership composition, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016 will not accomplish the intended objective (i.e. the “creditor primacy”). The findings refute with the evolutionary theory, i.e. debt and equity both will tend towards dispersion in outsider system of governance.

This paper put forward the imprint that Indian corporate insolvency regime is manager-displacing under Law on Books and manager-driven under Law on Practice.

Addresses issues and questions in an evaluative review of the insolvency of office developer Olympia and York at Canary Wharf in 1992. Asks: what made a large, private company internationally vulnerable? Why could property cycles with their risks become internationalized, notwithstanding that sometimes spreading the internationalization of property could be considered as a useful means of pooling the risks? What was the nature of the office building cycle in London which was adapting its property needs to the internationalization of the financial sector in London, Tokyo and New York? What lessons emerge in the relationships between economics, finance and law in a new wave of insolvency proceedings under post‐1980 legislation? In terms of property market conditions, how can Paul Reichmann’s consortium’s repurchase of Canary Wharf be explained?