Despite entering into a binding agreement with Twitter, Elon Musk has backed out of completing the purchase of the company at $54.20 per share. Twitter has commenced action in the court of Delaware. If it wins, its share price should increase to around $54.20 from the current $37.74. On the other hand, if it loses the share price will drop to $37.40, the level it was prior to the announcement of the bid. From this it is possible to calculate the probability of success of Twitter’s action implied by the current market share price (using some assumptions). This market implied probability can be compared to that obtained using legal analysis, which can then inform investors whether to buy or sell Twitter shares. It also gives litigators a rare opportunity to back their analysis!
20 March 2024Two recent cases have considered the issue of when a bank can be held liable by a victim of fraud on the basis that the fraudster directed the victim to make payment to an account held with the defendant bank. In both these recent cases, the receiving bank has been comprehensively excused of any liability. However, whether the receiving bank can ever be held liable in such circumstances remains an open question.
20 March 2024The EU Regulation on a pilot regime for market infrastructures based on distributed ledger technology entered into force in June 2022. This article examines its key features and likely impact on the market for digital bonds.
20 March 2024This article examines some of the current issues arising in leverage finance agreements on defaults and the expansion of express remedy terms that can impact on debt transfers.
20 March 2024In this article, Daniel Benedyk considers the application of state immunity to individuals acting on behalf of states and “separate entities”. This issue was not addressed in the State Immunity Act 1978 (SIA), but has since been developed in case law. In particular, it has been considered in two significant decisions of the Commercial Court in the last year.
20 March 2024In this article, Katherine Ratcliffe summarises Mr Justice Jacobs’ decision in CJ and LK Perks v NatWest Markets [2022] EWHC 726 (Comm) as to when the limitation period for an interest rate swap began and explains why Mr Justice Jacobs’ conclusions are correct.
20 March 2024In the wake of Russia’s unlawful invasion of Ukraine, public perception, triggered – and at times encouraged – by the media and MPs, appears to support a blanket ban on representing persons and entities designated (DPs) under the UK’s new sanctions framework, or even non-designated persons allied to Vladimir Putin or his regime. As a result, lawyers have quickly become stuck between, on the one hand, a purported moral obligation and internal-firm practice based on commercial considerations ostensibly consistent with foreign policy and, on the other, their duty to preserve due process. In this article, Alex Haines delineates between what is and is not permitted.
20 March 2024Russia’s default on its foreign currency sovereign bonds is unprecedented and likely to lead to bondholder litigation as well as derivatives disputes. This article highlights the reasons for Russia’s default and explores the scope of potential bondholder litigation, together with some of the obstacles which bondholders may face in bringing claims against Russia. The article then considers the ripple effect on the derivatives market, where it is possible that investors in products linked to Russian debt may seek to recover losses by bringing mis-selling claims.
20 March 2024In this update Oriol Espar and César Herrero examine recent trends in real estate financing from a green/sustainability perspective and offer some guidance on dealing with green/sustainability-related wording, especially as regards green real estate finance transactions.
20 March 2024In Blight v Brewster [2012] EWHC 165 (Ch) the court implemented an innovative procedure enabling a judgment creditor to enforce against the debtor’s pension fund. Blight has been followed in a trio of reported decisions handed down in 2022, which examined particular aspects of the procedure and its application in specific circumstances, further establishing the jurisdiction and helping to delimit its boundaries.
19 March 2024