Newsletter No. 17
What is the outcome of the continued General Review Hearing before the Princely Court of Justice on 26 May 2023?
The fourth court hearing (continuation of the General Review Hearing) in the bankruptcy proceedings of Gable Insurance AG in liquidation (Gable) took place before the Princely Court of Justice (Landgericht) in Vaduz on 26 May 2023. The liquidator was able to declare to the Court the correctness and order of precedence of further 915 registered claims (damage and premium refund claims). Together, these claims amount to CHF 111,3 million, of which CHF 100,5 million apply to (privileged) insurance claims and CHF 10,8 million apply to (non-privileged) bankruptcy claims.
The liquidator was able to fully acknowledge 678 claims totalling CHF 96,2 million, but had to fully or partially contest 237 claims totalling CHF 15,1 million. 76 of these claims were additionally contested with regard to the applicable class (privileged or non-privileged). In addition, 53 claims fully recognised in terms of amount had to be contested with regard to the applicable class (privileged or non-privileged). Of the acknowledged claim amount, CHF 93,8 million apply to (privileged) insurance claims and CHF 2,4 million apply to (non-privileged) bankruptcy claims (class 4).
The Princely Court of Justice has recorded the outcome of the review hearing in the register of claims. The creditors can obtain the register of claims from the liquidator.
The liquidator was able to report to the Princely Court of Justice and the representatives of creditors present with regard to the assets, that at present, there are liquid funds and assets to the value of around CHF 81,0 million. The liquidator expects further receipts from reinsured damage claims. These reinsurance benefits constitute the most valuable asset value which has not yet been realised.
For reasons of completeness, the liquidator refers to newsletter no. 6, 11 and 14 which provided information regarding the outcome of the General Review Hearings of 12 December 2018, 30 September 2020 and 20 December 2021. This outcome is not included in the figures mentioned above. At the four General Review Hearings to date 13.442 claims totalling CHF 268,1 million were dealt with, of which claims totalling CHF 147,3 million were acknowledged and claims totalling CHF 120,7 million were contested.
The liquidator has not yet been able to examine or completely examine the remaining 246 registered claims. The creditors of these claims are demanding CHF 86,8 million.
In total, up until now, 13.688 claims totalling CHF 354,9 million have been registered in the bankruptcy proceedings. It is worth mentioning that these include individual claims from guarantee schemes which in turn comprise hundreds or thousands of individual claims.
What happens next in the bankruptcy proceedings?
The General Review Hearing has not yet been completed. A continuation will take place in due course.
In the meantime, the liquidator is continuing the review process with regard to the claims which have not yet been examined or completely examined.
Apart from this, more than 2.000 registered damage cases are still being processed. We can therefore expect a number of additional claims to be registered.
How will creditors be informed of the outcome of the General Review Hearing of 26 May 2023?
The Princely Court of Justice shall notify in writing those creditors whose claims were partially or fully contested with regard to the amount claimed and/or contested with regards to the applicable class (privileged or non-privileged). They may bring legal action against the estate of Gable within 14 days of receipt of the court order if they do not agree with the contest. If they do not bring legal action on time, they shall be excluded as a creditor from the bankruptcy proceedings completely or, for a partial contest, with regard to the proportion of the claim disputed. In addition, creditors are definitively classified in the recognised class.
Creditors whose claims were acknowledged with regard to the amount claimed and the applicable class (privileged or non-privileged) on 26 May 2023 shall not be notified. However, all creditors have the option of accessing the liquidator’s reports and the register of claims by inspecting the files at the Princely Court of Justice, or of contacting the liquidator directly.
The liquidator will submit the next detailed report for the attention of the Princely Court of Justice at the beginning of 2024. A summary of this report will be published on the website.
What bankruptcy dividend can the creditors expect and when will this be paid out?
(Privileged) insurance claims amounting to CHF 118,4 million have been recognised at the four General Review Hearings to date. Currently, Gable has realised assets in the amount of approximately CHF 81,0 million. It can therefore be regarded as certain that (non-privileged) bankruptcy claims cannot be satisfied.
The bankruptcy dividend that creditors of (privileged) insurance claims can expect depends on the developments of the liabilities and assets. The amount of the dividend cannot be reliably estimated for this reason, among others, as claims amounting to CHF 86,8 million of the total claims filed of CHF 354,9 million have not yet been examined or have not yet been examined in full.
The creditors cannot expect a (partial) pay-out until further notice. This is only conceivable once the General Review Hearing is complete.