Anyone who has walked around a mall in the United States lately or subscribes to any of the usual restructuring newsletters can’t help but wonder whether traditional, store-based retail as we know it will find a way to survive.  Is this phenomenon limited to the United States, or is the retail industry facing a global restructuring of its entire business model?

The name of the INSOL panel, Retail disrupted.  Welcome to the Hunger Games, by itself suggests the answer to this question.  Three panelists discussed the global state of retail and “the cutthroat game of getting in front of the consumer”:  James Stewart (Ferrier Hodgson), Cory Lipoff (Hilco), Iain Nairn (CEO of Kikki.K), and Dr. Ian Tho (Azurium Analytics). 

Globalization is a hot topic these days.  It should come as no surprise, then, that the challenges that come with having a global enterprise in financial distress can be complex.  The panelists at the INSOL breakout session, Group next (or not):  continuing challenges in the treatment of enterprise groups in insolvency, explored what happens when a global organization with businesses in multiple jurisdictions around the world tries to implement a cohesive and coordinated restructuring.  The session was chaired by David Molton of Brown Rudnick, with panelists from South Africa (Professor Anneli Loubser of the University of South Africa), Brazil (Luiz Fernando V. de Paiva of Pinheiro Neto Advogados), and Australia (Macaire Bromley of DLA Piper), as well as INSOL Past President Neil Cooper.