*Re Sanko Steamship Co Ltd; Sanko Steamship Co Ltd and another v Glencore Ltd

Insolvency – Cross-Border insolvency. The proceedings concerned a Japanese company, which had been engaged in insolvency proceedings in Japan for the purpose of effecting a reorganisation. Those proceedings had been recognised in England as the foreign main proceedings in respect of the company, but they had later come to an end. The company and its director applied, under art 17(4) of Sch 1 to the Cross Border Insolvency Regulations 2006 (CBIR), for the continued recognition of the director's status as foreign representative of the company, and, under art 21(2) of Sch 1 to the CBIR, for payment to the company of the funds held in the English court, pursuant to orders made in the Admiralty Court in England, following the sale of the company's vessel. An interested party had filed a request for a caution against the release of the proceeds in the sum of US$3.85m. The Companies Court, among other things, rejected the applicants' submission that the main proceedings had only partly ceased to exist because the implementation of the reorganisation plan was ongoing. The fact that the plan had not been fully implemented did not serve to render the Japanese proceedings ongoing. Further, leaving the funds in court in England seemed likely to tolerate, if not encourage, delay, which was itself a hallmark of injustice.