[Recap] Season 2 Utilizing Singapore (and Other Offshore Jurisdictions) to Restructure Indonesian Companies

On March 31, ABLI held its webinar Season 2 Utilizing Singapore (and Other Offshore Jurisdictions) to Restructure Indonesian Companies with speakers Tahirah Ara, Managing Partner, Singapore and Head of Asia, Mishcon de Reya LLP, Emmanuel Chua, Local Principal, Baker & McKenzie Wong & Leow, and Narada Kumara, Partner and Practice Group Head of Restructuring and Insolvency, Budidjaja International Lawyers. We are delighted to welcome back a considerable number of attendees who participated in the session last year.

Tahirah started this year’s webinar with an introduction of the Gibbs Rules, the “battle” between the Gibbs Rules and the UNICTRAL Model Law on Cross-border Insolvency (Model Law), and the recent application of the Gibbs Rules in cases such as Gunel Bakhiyeva (as foreign rep. of OJSC International Bank of Azerbaijan) v Sberbank of Russia (2018) and Chang Chin Fen (as foreign rep. for Prosafe SE) v. Cosco Shipping (Qidong) offshore Ltd. (2021).

Emmanuel was the next to speak where he provided an overview of the value proposition of the restructuring regime under Singapore’s Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act both generally and in particular to Indonesian parties. He then focused on the outbound recognition of Singapore court restructuring orders in both Model Law (such as United States and United Kingdom) and non-Model Law (China) jurisdictions, which gives teeth to the Singapore regime.

Narada followed up with a very informative presentation that included, among others, proposed updates to the suspension of payment, or PKPU, proceedings under Indonesian law, and two court cases: Constitutional Court Decision No. 23/PUUXIX/2021 and Pan Brothers vs Maybank.

The individual presentations were followed by a case study where attendees were invited to vote on poll questions for a case study circulated before the session. During the discussion, the three speakers touched upon issues such as the attractiveness of Singapore as the go-to place for fund-raising by Indonesian borrowers, the considerations behind choosing a specific jurisdiction for restructuring, and potential ways to get around the Gibbs Rule.

ABLI thanks all speakers for their time and effort in preparing for the webinar and all attendees for active participation. We are delighted that the interactive case study session has received positive feedback.

We plan to release some snippets of the recording online for knowledge sharing. Stay tuned by following our LinkedIn.