In State of Victoria v Goulburn Administration Services (In Liquidation) & Ors [2016] VSC 654, the Victoria Supreme Court appointed two partners of Ernst & Young (EY) as special purpose liquidators (SPLs) of two companies, despite EY's involvement in carrying out contractual compliance audits before those companies went into liquidation.
In Re PrimeSpace Property Investment Limited (In Liquidation) [2016] NSWSC 1450 the Supreme Court of New South Wales was asked to consider whether it could make directions in respect of the investigation of the affairs of a corporate trustee (whose only assets were held on trust). The company, as trustee, had guaranteed a loan from a third party and also granted that third party first option on several apartments.
Bloomberg reported last month that the Madoff bankruptcy has one more big case to go, chasing USD3.2b held by foreign banks (see our related story above). Mr Picard, the bankruptcy trustee, has reportedly recovered over USD14b of the USD17.5b in losses arising from Madoff's Ponzi scheme.
On 22 November 2016, The European Commission announced a proposal for a new, more consistent approach to business insolvency across the member states of the EU. It is hoped that the proposed directive will create greater efficiencies in the insolvency process, enhance financial stability and provide greater certainty to investors and companies operating across the EU.
DD Growth Premium 2X Fund (the Company), was a Cayman Islands Ponzi scheme that concealed vast trading losses by attributing fanciful values to worthless bonds. As the GFC unfolded in 2008, RMF Market Neutral Strategies Limited (RMF) redeemed US$23m for its shares in the Company (the Payment). The Company was placed in liquidation a short time later and the Company's liquidators sought to claw the Payment back.
Last month the Insolvency Working Group released its second and final report, dealing with voidable transactions and Ponzi schemes. The Group's first report was released in July 2016 and dealt with regulation of insolvency practitioners and voluntary liquidations. In the second report, the Working Group make a number of recommendations on the voidable transaction regime and regarding protection from Ponzi schemes. In relation to voidable transactions, the primary recommendations were repealing the "gave value" part of the defence available to creditors with a view to incre
British law firm DWL LLP has acquired insurance specialist Triton Global for the bargain basement price of 30% of its value. The deal was struck just days before HM Revenue & Customs attempted to wind the firm up over unpaid tax of £1.3m. Triton Global was a competitor of DWL, but cash flow difficulties left it unable to cover its working capital requirements and service creditor debt. The deal sees DWL pay £1.1m for Triton Global, with unsecured creditors set to receive less than 4p to the pound. Of the purchase price, only £174,000 is allocated to the approxima
The latest development in what has been a long-running (and expensive) cross-border insolvency proceeding involving Nortel (see our June 2015 and September 2015 legal updates for previous instalments) is a settlement between:
Re The Joint Liquidators of Supreme Tycoon Limited (in liquidation in the British Virgin Islands) (08/02/2018, HCMP833/2017), [2018] HKCFI 277
The Hong Kong Court of First Instance considered whether an insolvent liquidation, commenced by the shareholder of a company registered in the British Virgin Islands, was eligible for common law recognition in Hong Kong.
In Re Hin-Pro International Logistics Ltd the Hong Kong Court of Appeal had to consider whether it had jurisdiction to grant leave to amend a creditor's petition, and if so, whether it should do so.