The issuance of the Companies Act (Register of Beneficial Owners) (Amendment) Regulations, referred to as Legal Notice 247 of 2020 confirms that the Registrar of Companies shall have further powers to investigate the ultimate beneficial ownership of the companies that are to be or are registered in Malta. These new Regulations, which came into force in June 2020, shall require Maltese companies to abide by new annual filing obligation confirming ultimate beneficial ownership of the relative company’s issued shares.

The novel coronavirus has brought about many unforeseen circumstances which have unfortunately led many businesses to end in difficult financial situations. According to the Maltese Companies Act (Cap. 386 of the Laws of Malta), a company which is presently unable to pay its debts, or is very likely that it will be unable to pay its debts in the near future, has the possibility to either dissolve and consequently wind-up the company or recover the company.

The High Court decision in Re All Star Leisure (Group) Limited (2019), which confirmed the validity of an administration appointment by a qualified floating charge holder (QFCH) out of court hours by CE-Filing, will be welcomed.

The decision accepted that the rules did not currently provide for such an out of hours appointment to take place but it confirmed it was a defect capable of being cured and, perhaps more importantly, the court also stressed the need for an urgent review of the rules so that there is no doubt such an appointment could be made.

In certain circumstances, if a claim is proven, the defendant will be able to offset monies that are due to it from the claimant - this is known as set off.

Here, we cover the basics of set off, including the different types of set off and key points you need to know.

What is set off?

Where the right of set off arises, it can act as a defence to part or the whole of a claim.

In our update this month we take a look at some recent decisions that will be of interest to those involved in insolvency litigation. These include:

Creditor not obliged to take steps in foreign proceedings to preserve security

Any lending of funds needs to be adequately secured. This is a practice which every lender knows and should observe in order to adequately protect his credit. However, the meaning of "adequate security" is not straight forward and lenders must be careful when selecting their preferred security 

No duty of care owed for negligent bank reference to undisclosed principal

The Supreme Court has held that a bank which negligently provided a favourable credit reference for one of its customers did not owe a duty of care to an undisclosed principal who acted on that reference.

There has been a series of high profile tenant company voluntary arrangements (CVAs), particularly in the retail and casual dining sectors. Many landlords have been hit by closure of underperforming stores, and by rent cuts on those remaining open. Here we outline ten points for landlords on what CVAs are, how they are entered into and what landlords can do to protect themselves.

What is a CVA?

A CVA is a statutory process, supervised by an insolvency practitioner. It allows a company in financial difficulty to:

In our update this month we take a look at some of the recent cases that will be of interest to those involved in insolvency litigation. These include: