On February 27, 2018, the Supreme Court issued a significant decision that will increase the exposure of debt and equity investors that receive payments from all kinds of highly leveraged transactions, including leveraged buy-outs and dividend recapitalizations. The unanimous opinion in Merit Management Group, LP v.

This article was first published in the Australian Financial Review on Thursday, 22 February.

In the five years to November 2017, AUD1.8 billion of GST revenue was written-off due to phoenixing – where companies are stripped of assets and liquidated, then restarted under a different name leaving creditors out of pocket.