33 ISRAEL HAS 2020 VISION When forestry firm Norske Skogindustrier ASA and its subsidiaries (“Norske Skog”) filed voluntary petitions for bankruptcy relief in Norway in 2017, it became one of the largest and most complex bankruptcies to have been filed under Norwegian law. At the end of 2018, the trustee for the Norway Bankruptcy filed for relief under Chapter 15 of the United States Bankruptcy Code1 in order to enable the Norske Skog bankruptcy estate to commence discovery and litigation in the courts of the United States.2 On December 18, 2018, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York granted recognition of the Norwegian bankruptcy as a “foreign main proceeding” under Chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code and also permitted the trustee to issue discovery requests, obtain turnover of information,andassert claimsof theNorskeSkogestateagainst parties that were subject to jurisdiction in the U.S.3 On that same day, the trustee filed an adversary complaint in the Bankruptcy Court seeking to undo a complex series of loans and buy-back arrangements aggregating approximately € 30 million against defendants Cyrus Capital Partners, L.P. and GSO Capital Partners LP, along with certain of their respective affiliates.4 The April 29, 2021 decision issued by Judge Glenn on a motion to dismiss the adversary complaint highlights the intersection of foreign and U.S. bankruptcy law that can occur in a Chapter 15 proceeding. The adversary complaint contained counts for avoidance under sections 5-5 and 5-9 of the Norwegian Recovery Act of 8 June 1984 No. 59, as well as a claim for damages under section 17-1 of the Norwegian Public 1 11 U.S.C. § 1501 et seq. 2 In re Norske Skogindustrier ASA (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. Case No. 18-13571-mg). 3 In re Norske Skogindusrier ASA (Doc. No. 12). 4 The Bankruptcy Estate of Norske Skogindustrier ASA v. Cyrus Capital Partners, L.P., et al. (In re Norske Skogindustrier ASA) (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. Adv. Pro. No. 18-01846-mg). In an American Bankruptcy Proceeding, Everything Old Can Be New Again Deborah Koplovitz, Partner at Herrick, Feinstein - New York, USA
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