India’s Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) issued a notification on December 7 (Notification) announcing that certain provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 (Act), which are currently not in effect, will come into force on December 15, 2016.

The key provisions that will be brought into force include the following:

Compromise, Arrangements, and Amalgamation

Certain provisions contained in Chapter XV of the Act will be brought into effect that deal with

FINANCIAL SERVICES

New Regulations Facilitate Retail Investor Participation in Singapore Bond Market

Summary: On 8 September 2016 Mr Justice Snowden handed down his judgment in Glenn Maud v Aabar Block Sarl & others [2016] EWHC 2175 (Ch) in which he considered how the court should deal with a bankruptcy petition where the petitioning creditor may have an ulterior purpose for seeking a bankruptcy order.

Singapore is set to adopt the recommendations of the Committee to Strengthen Singapore as an International Centre for Debt Restructuring.

A client who is building a large mixed use development called me yesterday with a dilemma. He had received a letter from a local equipment supplier, who was on the verge of bankruptcy because the sub-contractor who had engaged him had gone into administration after the hire period had come to an end. He was pleading with my client to help him recover some £20,000 of hire fees still owed to him.

Innovations to the Act in late 2015 seek to modernize and simplify collective proceedings in OHADA member states.

After years of delay, on 1 August 2016, the Third Parties (Rights against Insurers) Act 2010 will be brought into force in the United Kingdom, making it easier for a party with a claim against an insolvent business to bring the claim directly against the insurer of that business.

A possible alternative to the freezing injunction.

A judgment has recently provided helpful guidance on a creative form of injunction. The “notification order” compels a defendant to give notice to the claimant before disposing or dealing with its assets. This notification order is less onerous than a freezing injunction, and although it usually accompanies the freezing injunction, in this case, the order was issued as standalone relief. The notification would alert the claimant to apply for a freezing injunction prior to dissipation of any assets.

Summary: Customers of a company in administration were entitled, as against a factor, to exercise equitable set-off in respect of entitlements to rebates that had arisen between the customers and the company notwithstanding the assignment of the customer’s debts to the factor.

Bibby Factors Northwest Ltd v HFD Ltd [2015] EWCA Civ 1908 (17 December 2015)

Background

Summary: The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee's findings in relation to Kids Company serve as a reminder of the risks of insolvency to large charities. The inherent weaknesses in the demand-led 'self-referral' operating model resulted in little to no reserves, and ultimately led to the trustees being required to file a petition to wind up the charity. Trustees of large charities must always be mindful of reserve levels.