covid-19

Stress Testing During a Pandemic

By Kathryn Judge June 26, 2020 by renholding

Yesterday, the Federal Reserve announced the results of its annual stress tests. This was the first time since 2009 that the Fed had stress tested large banks during a period of systemic distress. In a new paper, Stress Testing During …

SEC Chief Accountant on Importance of High-Quality Financial Reporting in Light of Covid-19

By Sagar Teotia June 25, 2020 by renholding

On April 3, 2020, the Office of the Chief Accountant (OCA) issued a statement[1] regarding the importance of high-quality financial reporting in light of the significant impacts of COVID-19.[2]  At that time, in addition to facing a number

…

Estimating the Need for Additional Bankruptcy Judges in Light of the COVID-19 Pandemic

By Benjamin Iverson, Jared A. Ellias and Mark J. Roe June 24, 2020 by renholding

We recently estimated the U.S. bankruptcy system’s ability to absorb an anticipated surge of financial distress among American consumers, businesses, and municipalities as a result of COVID-19.

An increase in the unemployment rate has historically been a leading indicator of …

SEC Chair Speaks on Small Business Capital Formation

By Jay Clayton June 19, 2020 by renholding

Welcome to the 39^th Annual Small Business Forum. I want to thank Martha and the staff in the Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation – that includes Colin, Jenny, Jessica, Julie, Malika and Todd – for

…

New Survey Finds Sharp Divide Over Pandemic’s Impact on Corporate Sustainability

By The Conference Board June 10, 2020 by renholding

New survey results show that most U.S. public company boards have stepped up their efforts in the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, but shutting down businesses may have been the easy part. Boards face a growing list of urgent …

Stakeholders Will Guide Companies Out of This Crisis – and the Next One, Too

By Stavros Gadinis and Amelia Miazad June 8, 2020 by renholding

Companies will not survive Covid-19 unless they communicate with their stakeholders. As the world around them transforms, corporate leaders must welcome input from those on the front lines of corporate activity – primarily employees and consumers, but also local communities, …

Cleary Gottlieb Discusses Fed’s Main Street Lending Program

By Katherine Mooney Carroll, Hugh C. Conroy, Duane McLaughlin, Derek Bush and Zachary Baum June 8, 2020 by renholding

On May 28, the Federal Reserve published the structural and operational details of the Main Street Lending Program, releasing program documentation and updated FAQs.  These documents are the final remaining pieces before the facilities open.  Last week’s publication brings the …

The SEC’s Covid-19 Disclosure Guidance Is a Litigation Trap

By Andrew Vollmer June 4, 2020 by renholding

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been putting pressure on companies that regularly file public reports to make detailed statements about the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on their businesses. Given the many uncertainties about those effects, the disclosures …

SEC Chairman Speaks to Fixed Income Market Structure Advisory Committee

By Jay Clayton June 2, 2020 by renholding

Thank you, Michael [Heaney]. Good morning everyone, and welcome to this year’s second meeting of the Fixed Income Market Structure Advisory Committee. Thank you for joining us. I am glad we are able to meet virtually today.

I would like …

Welfare Losses Associated with Fire Sales Are Smaller than Previously Documented

By Jean-Marie Meier and Henri Servaes June 1, 2020 by renholding

When companies in financial difficulty are forced to sell assets – especially real assets such as factories, business units, real estate, or the entire company – the news is often seen as negative all around. In these situations, often referred …

Skadden Discusses UK Covid-19 Bill to Aid Business, Restructuring

By Dominic McCahill, Peter Newman and James D. Falconer May 29, 2020 by renholding

On 20 May 2020, the U.K. government published the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill (the bill), which includes measures designed to help businesses through the COVID-19 pandemic and features important substantive reforms to U.K. restructuring law, whose introduction has been …

Covid-19 and Bankruptcy: A Case For “Light-Touch” Reorganizations

By Kumar Kartikeya Sharma May 28, 2020 by renholding

Different countries have adopted various strategies to prevent or delay initiation of insolvency proceedings and protect businesses in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis. Global response has broadly been along the lines of providing direct financial aid (by way of …

Chairman Clayton Speaks to SEC’s Asset Management Advisory Committee

By Jay Clayton May 28, 2020 by renholding

I look forward to hearing the Committee’s insights into the effects of the pandemic on the asset management industry and, in particular, our long-term Main Street investors.[1]  An essential component of our national response to, and recovery from, COVID-19

…

Can a Broader Corporate Purpose Redress Inequality?

By Matteo Gatti and Chrystin Ondersma May 27, 2020 by renholding

Well before the Covid-19 pandemic, policymakers and scholars were focused on the debate over corporate purpose and the fragility of an economic system marked by stagnation and runaway inequality.  As a solution, many urged a shift from shareholder primacy (the …

Cleary Gottlieb Discusses European Merger Control During the Pandemic

By Nicholas Levy, Richard Pepper, Anita Ng and Géraldine Babin May 21, 2020 by renholding

As the COVID-19 pandemic causes commercial and financial difficulties, many businesses will be considering M&A to address strategic issues, take advantage of market opportunities, and, in some cases, ensure their survival.  This memorandum considers the merger control implications of the …

Skadden Discusses Enforcement Risks and the CARES Act

By Boris Bershteyn, Jamie L. Boucher, Christopher J. Gunther, Ryan D. Junck and David Meister May 20, 2020 by renholding

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or the CARES Act, which was signed into law on March 27, 2020, provided for the establishment and expansion of a range of economic assistance programs designed to help U.S. businesses manage …

Paul Weiss Offers M&A at a Glance for April 2020

By Matthew W. Abbott, Scott A. Barshay, Ariel J. Deckelbaum, Jeffrey D. Marell, Robert B. Schumer and Taurie M. Zeitzer May 19, 2020 by renholding

COVID-19 had a marked impact on M&A in April, extending the decline observed in March across all measures. Globally, the number of deals decreased by 24.2%, to 2,036, and total deal value[1] decreased by 44.3%, to $118.34 billion. U.S. …

SEC Chair Clayton Speaks on Market Function and Monitoring and Disclosure

By Jay Clayton May 18, 2020 by renholding

From a systemic risk point of view, the SEC’s primary responsibilities[1] in this period of stress are three-fold:

1. Market function. Using our authority, expertise and experience to help ensure the continuing, orderly and fair function of the securities

…

Gibson Dunn Offers M&A Report – 2019 Year-End Activism Update

By Barbara L. Becker, Saee Muzumdar, Eduardo Gallardo, Richard J. Birns and Daniel Alterbaum May 15, 2020 by renholding

This Client Alert provides an update on shareholder activism activity involving NYSE- and Nasdaq-listed companies with equity market capitalizations in excess of $1 billion and below $100 billion (as of the last date of trading in 2019) during the second …

Wachtell Lipton on Lessons From the Future – The First Contested Virtual Annual Meeting

By Igor Kirman, Sabastian V. Niles, Oliver J. Board, Natalie S.Y. Wong and Loren Oumarova May 14, 2020 by renholding

The 2020 proxy season has been anything but routine, with the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting state shelter-in-place orders requiring many companies to make the shift from physical to virtual annual meetings, and state corporate laws being amended to allow …