Pursuant to section 459A of the Corporations Act (the Act), a Court may order that an insolvent company be wound up in insolvency.  For such an order to be made, it is conventional practice that the applicant demonstrates insolvency at the date of filing the application and at the date of the hearing of the application.

The recent Federal Court of Australia decision in Yu v STX Pan Ocean Co Ltd (South Korea), in the matter of STX Pan Ocean Co Ltd (receivers appointed in South Korea) [2013] FCA 680, highlights that the Court will be reluctant to grant additional relief to a foreign representative under the Cross Border Insolvency Act 2008 (Cth) where the additional relief sought would adversely affect the rights of creditors.

Facts

Facts

The Product People Pty Ltd (TPP) was the manufacturer of various products. The Product People (International) Pty Ltd (TPPI) was a separate company that was licensed to market and sell those products throughout Australia and New Zealand. Box Seat Company Pty Ltd (Box Seat) generated business and managed clients in relation to those products for that region.

In the current economic climate, there has been increased interest from clients and their advisers in using offshore companies in cross-border restructurings. The use of offshore companies in restructurings is often driven by tax and structuring advice, where there is a desire to continue the group operating as a going concern and to achieve a favourable outcome for creditors (usually outside of formal insolvency proceedings).

Such companies can offer a number of advantages when used as part of a restructuring plan, including:

Key Issues

The transaction documents (eg ISDA, GMRA or prime brokerage agreements) for derivatives transactions (or other transactions involving netting provisions) are usually governed by English law or New York law. However, there are a number of local law issues which our clients should consider when proposing to enter into such transactions with offshore counterparties, including the following key issues:

There has been a considerable amount of interest from clients recently on putting Jersey companies holding UK real property and other assets into English administration. Where a Jersey company and its creditors intend to rescue the company as a going concern, or English administration would achieve a better realisation for creditors than a désastre or a winding up, it may be advantageous to commence English administration.