In brief

The Government has released a consultation paper as part of their commitment to ongoing reform of Australia’s corporate insolvency regime.  Phoenix activity refers to both legitimate business rescue activities and serial insolvency to avoid debts.

Australia’s corporate insolvency regime has undergone significant reform with the passing of the Treasury Laws Amendment (2017 Enterprise Incentives No. 2) Bill 2017 (the Bill) through both houses of parliament.

This week’s TGIF considers the case of Official Assignee in Bankruptcy of the Property of Cooksley, in the matter of Cooksley v Cooksley, in which the Federal Court granted assistance to the High Court of NZ in administering a bankruptcy.

BACKGROUND

As part of broader reforms to Australia’s corporate insolvency laws, new laws will restrict the ability of a party to enforce a right to terminate a contract in the case where the counterparty suffers an insolvency event (commonly known as ‘ipso facto’ clauses).

What are ‘ipso facto’ clauses?

The reforms proposed to combat illegal phoenix activity range from light-touch through to more significant changes to the Corporations Act.

DOING BUSINESS

IN AUSTRALIA Restructuring and insolvency

OCT 2017

WWW.CORRS.COM.AU

DOING BUSINESS IN AUSTRALIA

RESTRUCTURING AND INSOLVENCY

AUSTRALIAN INSOLVENCY PROCESSES

The key insolvency-related processes relevant to Australian companies under Australian law are:

Voluntary Administration;

Liquidation; and

Receivership.

The High Court’s recent decision in Ramsay Health Care Australia Pty Ltd v Compton [2017] HCA 28 has confirmed a bankruptcy court can exercise a discretion to go behind the judgment debt where sufficient reason is shown for questioning whether there is a debt due to the petitioning creditor.

In the recent Federal Course case of Lane (Trustee), in the matter of Lee (Bankrupt) v Deputy Commissioner of Taxation [2017] FCA 953 (Lane v DCT), Justice Derrington provided an in-depth analysis of the principles relating to an insolvent trustee’s right of indemnity over trust assets.

On 1 September 2017, Boart Longyear Limited (Boart), successfully implemented the reconstruction of its US law governed debt using Australian creditor schemes of arrangement (Schemes).

This is a landmark case that will influence Australian corporate reconstructions for years to come.

The case involved approval by the NSW Supreme Court and recognition by the US Bankrupcty Court under Chapter 15 of the US Bankruptcy Code, ensuring cross border effectiveness for the reconstruction.

Highlights