The Minister for Justice and Equality has made an order providing for the commencement of certain provisions of the Personal Insolvency Act 2012 with effect from Friday 1 March 2013.

The provisions to be commenced with effect from this date are as follows:

Introduction

On 29 January 2013, the Federal Court of Australia made orders approving the creditors’ scheme of arrangement between Nine Entertainment Group Pty Limited (NEG) and its senior and mezzanine lenders (Nine Scheme).

The Nine Scheme, made under Part 5.1 of the Corporations Act, follows Alinta and Centro as the third debt for equity restructuring of a major Australian company in as many years.

This is the second case in which the New South Wales Supreme Court has granted an extension of time for registration of a security interest on the Personal Property Securities Register where the delay is accidental or due to inadvertence.  However, the extension in this case was conditional firstly, by preserving the priority of another security interest which had been registered in the meantime and secondly, because there was insufficient evidence of the financial position of the grantor to establish that an extension was unlikely to prejudice other creditors or shareholde

Legislation enabling the immediate liquidation of IBRC (formerly Anglo Irish Bank) was signed into law in the early hours of 7 February. Draft legislation was published on 6 February following media speculation that the Irish Government was preparing plans to liquidate IBRC and was promptly brought before both Houses of the Oireachtas (the Irish Parliament). The Minister for Finance stated that immediate action was necessary in order to prevent any action being taken which could have put IBRC’s assets at risk.

The Personal Insolvency Bill was signed into law by the President on 26 December 2012.

The Act provides for:

The Personal Insolvency Bill has completed its passage through the Dáil and the Seanad (the Irish Houses of Parliament) and will now be passed to the President for signing into law.

The new legislation has been described by the Minister for Justice as “the most radical and comprehensive reform of our insolvency and bankruptcy law and practice since the foundation of the State.”

It provides for:

An application by Quinn family members to have court-appointed receivers removed and their solicitors discharged on the basis of an alleged conflict of interest and partiality has been dismissed by the Commercial Court.

The Personal Insolvency Bill has completed its passage through the Dáil (lower house of the Oireachtas (the Irish Parliament)). The Bill is now moving through the Seanad (upper house of the Oireachtas), where its provisions are subject to debate and amendment. The Minister for Justice recently confirmed his intention that the Bill will become law by Christmas.

The Bill provides for: 

In a recent High Court case, a liquidator sought an order declaring that certain payments made by a company prior to its liquidation were a ‘fraudulent preference’ and invalid. The company had made payments to its overdrawn bank account which was personally guaranteed by one of its directors. It was alleged that the payments were made in order to reduce the company’s overdraft and therefore, the director’s own personal exposure under the guarantees.

ASIC has made a brand new start to the way insolvency notices will be published in Australia. From 1 July 2012 the previous obligations for publications have melted away.