In brief
When would the directors of a company be bound to consider the interest of the company's creditors? This was the issue at the heart of the Singapore Court of Appeal's (SGCA) watershed decision in Foo Kian Beng v OP3 International Pte Ltd (in liquidation) [2024] SGCA 10, which comes hot on the heels of the UK Supreme Court's pronouncements on the same issue in BTI 2014 LLC v Sequana SA and others [2022] UKSC 25.
This article considers the New South Wales Supreme Court’s decision to grant leave to proceed against non-appearing foreign defendants, which were in foreign insolvency proceedings.
There has been a significant growth of litigation in Australia where there is at least one foreign defendant. This is unsurprising given the growing number of international agreements under which the parties govern their contract under Australian law and expressly agree to Australian court jurisdiction, and the volume of global trade with Australia and foreign direct investment.
Introduction
In commercial contracts, it is not uncommon to find provisions allowing for contractual discretion on the part of one or more parties, such as the discretion to vary certain interest or payment terms, to choose a port of delivery, or an option to purchase. While such provisions give a certain amount of decision-making power to the party that has been conferred the discretion, they are not without limit. These limits were explored in the Singapore High Court decision of Maybank Singapore Ltd v Synergy Global Resources Pte Ltd [2023] SGHC 258.
Singapore's economy is expected to see slower growth in 2023 after its rapid recovery from the pandemic in 2022, with the Ministry of Trade and Industry recently narrowing the GDP growth forecast for the year.1 As industries continue to feel the pinch of high inflation and interest rates, creditors and debtors alike may be considering appropriate solutions for companies which struggle to pay their debts.
Singapore has invested significant efforts in positioning itself as a regional restructuring hub in recent years, introducing substantial reforms and enhancements to improve the effectiveness of its debt restructuring regime. These reforms include enhanced moratorium protections, super-priority for rescue financing, “pre-packaged” schemes of arrangements, and restrictions on the operation of ipso facto clauses.
Swee Siang Boey and Suchitra Kumar, RPC Premier Law
This is an extract from the 2024 edition of GRR's The Asia-Pacific Restructuring Review. The whole publication is available here.
This is an Insight article, written by a selected partner as part of GRR's co-published content. Read more on Insight
Introduction
Market volatility in international trade and commodities invariably results in trade defaults. As a hub for international trading companies, Singapore has seen its fair share of insolvencies and restructuring in the past few years as a section of traders felt the effects of the pandemic, the oil crash and over leveraging on unprecedented levels of liquidity.
Indonesia Authors: Jeanne E. Donauw and Hans Adiputra Kurniawan 1. KPPU Regulation No. 3 of 2023 and Government Regulation No. 20 of 2023: New Merger Filing Regulation and Fees The Indonesian Business Competition Supervisory Commission – Komisi Pengawas Persaingan Usaha (“KPPU”) issued KPPU Regulation No. 3 of 2023 (“Reg 3 of 2023”) as a new merger filing regulation, replacing, and revoking the previous regulation on the same matter, namely KPPU Regulation No. 3 of 2019 (“Reg 3 of 2019”).
インドネシア 執筆者: ジェン・エリザベス・ドノウ、ハンス・アディプトラ・クルニアワン 1. 2023 年 KPPU 規則第 3 号及び 2023 年政令第 20 号：新しい企業結合届出規 則及び手数料 インドネシア企業競争監視委員会(Komisi Pengawas Persaingan Usaha)(以下「KPPU｣という。)は、新しい企業 結合届出規則である 2023 年 KPPU 規則第 3 号(以下「2023 年規則第 3 号｣という。)を公布した。2023 年規則 第 3 号は、従前の企業結合届出規則である 2019 年 KPPU 規則第 3 号(以下「2019 年規則第 3 号｣という。)を廃 止し、これに取って代わるものである。以下に、2023 年規則第 3 号の主な要点を簡単に述べる。 (i) 企業結合届出要件：F2F(Foreign to Foreign)取引における地域関連基準 2023 年規則第 3 号によると、全ての取引当事者がインドネシアにおいて資産又は売上げを有する場合にの み、企業結合届出の義務が生じる。これは、取引当事者の 1 者でもインドネシアに資産又は売上げを有する 場合には企業結合届出義務が生じていた 2019年規則第3号に基づく制度と比べて注目すべき変更である。