The UK’s third-largest steelworks, Speciality Steels UK (part of Sanjeev Gupta’s Liberty Steel), has been placed under government control after being declared insolvent. Nearly 1,500 jobs in Rotherham and Sheffield face an uncertain future as the High Court ordered its winding up, citing debts of hundreds of millions and just £600,000 in the bank against a £3.7m monthly wage bill. The official receiver will now oversee operations while the government covers wages and keeps the plant running as a buyer is sought.

Gupta’s team had asked the court for more time to pursue a “pre-pack administration” with financial backing from BlackRock and Fidera, aiming to buy back the business and shed much of its debt. Liberty Steel argued it was best placed to run the plant after a decade of investment and operation.

Creditors, however, pushed for liquidation under independent oversight, claiming this would safeguard UK steelmaking better than a Gupta-led rescue. The collapse stems from Liberty’s financial struggles after its main lender Greensill Capital failed, leaving the group exposed and with numerous entities already in insolvency across multiple countries.

Read more at the BBC

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German mobile phone insurance, repair, and logistics provider Einhaus Group has disclosed the devastating impact of a 2023 ransomware attack. Once employing 170 staff and generating €70 million annually, the company is now reduced to just eight workers. 

The "Royal" ransomware group encrypted contracts, billing, and communication systems, halting operations. Hackers even sent warnings via office printers. Einhaus paid a €200,000 Bitcoin ransom, but although investigators later seized the funds, they were never returned. 

The company suffered damages in the mid-seven-figure range forcing job losses, property sales, and insolvency filings for subsidiaries including 24logistics. Once partnered with giants such as Deutsche Telekom and 1&1 across 5,000 stores, Einhaus has effectively collapsed.

Read more on this at Tech Radar

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LuisaViaRoma, a top European luxury e-commerce platform, is seeking legal and government assistance to restructure its business and manage debts totaling up to €30 million. According to WWD, the Italian company has filed for a form of bankruptcy, aiming to ensure business continuity while addressing its financial issues.

CEO, Tommaso Maria Andorlini, cited a "complicated moment" for the luxury and e-commerce sectors, acknowledging industry-wide errors. LuisaViaRoma's restructuring plan involves two parallel processes: a voluntary, extrajudicial "negotiated composition of the crisis" mediated by the Chamber of Commerce, and a request for judicial protection from the Court of Florence. This court measure, if approved, would grant the company up to one year to implement a restructuring plan and prevent compulsory insolvency. 

Read more here

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Weil, a prominent law firm headquartered in New York, and with over 1,200 lawyers in offices around the world, has achieved a significant victory for the insolvency administrator of a Luxembourg bond issuer, successfully securing a court order to include a €900 million claim against the now-insolvent Wirecard AG in the insolvency table.

The case centered on a common financing structure used by many large DAX-listed companies, where a German parent company uses a foreign subsidiary to issue bonds, guaranteeing repayment and receiving the proceeds as a loan. The Munich I Regional Court's landmark judgment is the first of its kind to affirm that this structure remains valid even when the German parent company is subject to insolvency proceedings.

This decision, spearheaded by Frankfurt-based Litigation partner Britta Grauke and her team, holds particular relevance for both Wirecard AG’s insolvency and the German capital markets as a whole, providing clarity on a widely used financing mechanism.

Read more at Weil

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Altice France, a major French telecommunications company, based in Luxembourg, operates as both a mobile network operator and a large telecommunications provider and is owned by billionaire Patrick Drahi. The organisation recently filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in New York. This move seeks U.S. recognition of its French "safeguard proceedings" as the company grapples with substantial debt.

With an estimated €19.2 billion debt, Altice France, which owns French telco SFR, has faced significant financial struggles. In February, it reached an agreement with creditors to cut its debt by €8.6 billion. The Chapter 15 filing acknowledges that much of its secured debt is governed by New York law and held by U.S. entities.

To alleviate its financial burden, Altice has been divesting assets, including selling a 24.5% stake in BT group, the UKs largest telecommunications provider, and separating its French data center assets. The company's Portuguese unit is also looking to sell its data centers amid an ongoing corruption probe.

Red more at DCD

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