The current COVID-19 market environment presents unique circumstances to companies and investors who may, as a result of the tumultuous markets and the financial and personal effects of COVID-19, have opportunities to acquire distressed businesses at potentially depressed prices. Particularly in this market environment, though, one or more of the following scenarios may apply: The target needs to consummate a sale quickly because the target’s cash resources are dwindling. The buyer wonders whether the distressed…
On November 1, 2019, reforms to Canada’s Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (BIA) and the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) that were announced in Canada’s federal 2019 budget will come into force. Key changes to the insolvency regime include: require participants in an insolvency proceeding to act in good faith; provide for the possibility of court-ordered disclosure of a creditor’s real economic interest in an insolvent company; explicitly permit management to consider the interests of workers…