When an employer is insolvent and administrators appointed, job losses are often an inevitable consequence. In this blog we look at the legal obligations arising where redundancies meet the threshold for collective consultation, and the implications for administrators arising out of the recent Supreme Court in the case of R (on the application of Palmer) v Northern Derbyshire Magistrates Court and another.

When does the legal obligation to collectively consult apply?

On 24 February, the Government published draft regulations that, if implemented, will impose new restrictions on pre-pack administration sales to connected parties. For all `substantial disposals' (which will include `pre-pack' sales) to connected parties, taking place within eight weeks of the administrators' appointment, the administrators will either need creditor consent or a report from an independent `evaluator'.

Context

On 3 December 2020, the UK Government (HM Treasury) issued a consultation paper (the Consultation) setting out a proposal to implement a new “special administration regime” (the SAR) which it is proposed would apply to any insolvency of an authorised payment institution (a PI) or electronic money institution (an EMI).

On 3 December 2020, HM Treasury published the Government's proposal to implement a new special administration regime for PIs and EMIs (PI and EMI SAR), a copy of which can be seen here.

Gerade im Anbetracht der aus der Corona-Pandemie folgenden Krise stellt sich die Frage: Was passiert mit Token in der Insolvenz, insbesondere, wenn sie von einem Dienstleister für seine Kunden verwahrt werden?

Especially in view of the crisis resulting from the Coronavirus pandemic, the question arises: What happens to tokens in insolvency, especially if they are held in safekeeping by a service provider for his customers?

Introduction

The concept of winding up does not exclusively apply to insolvent companies. Solvent companies can also be wound up, on the initiation of the company’s directors and shareholders (for example, as part of a corporate reconstruction or to close down non-operating or redundant entities). 

An overview of the two key procedures to effect the dissolution of a solvent Australian company, being Members’ Voluntary Liquidation and Deregistration, is set out below. 

In brief

Even with the fiscal stimulus and other measures taken by the Federal and State governments in Australia, corporate insolvencies are likely to increase in coming months.

Under Australia's insolvency regimes, a distressed company may be subject to voluntary administration, creditor's voluntary winding up or court ordered winding up (collectively, an external administration). Each of these processes raises different issues for the commencement and continuation of court and arbitration proceedings.

Als Teil des gesetzgeberischen Maßnahmenpakets zur Abmilderung der wirtschaftlichen Auswirkungen der COVID-19-Pandemie erleichtert das COVID-19-Insolvenzaussetzungsgesetz (COVInsAG) die rechtssichere Finanzierung kriselnder Unternehmen und setzt Anreize an deren Gesellschafterkreise: der Nachrang von Gesellschafterdarlehen und das Erfordernis eines Sanierungsgutachtens sind durch das COVInsAG suspendiert.

In summary

In our previous alert we discussed how Justice Markovic in the Federal Court of Australia had granted the administrators of retailer Colette Group relief from personal liability for rent in respect of 93 stores.