The Commonwealth Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services Corporate insolvency in Australia was released on 12 July 2023.

The Report states that the construction industry is experiencing one of the highest rates of insolvencies compared to other sectors. The Report cited ASIC data which shows that the number of companies entering external administration has increased relative to the same month in the previous two financial years, with the construction industry being the most highly represented.

On 19 July 2023, the Luxembourg parliament finally passed a new law to modernize insolvency law and preserve businesses, after more than a decade since the first draft bill (n° 6539) was presented.

In a recent decision, Anchorage Capital Master Offshore Ltd v Sparkes [2023] NSWCA 88, lenders to the Arrium Group, a company that collapsed, have lost their appeal regarding the personal liability of the Chief Financial Officer and Group Treasurer. The NSW Supreme Court had previously dismissed the lenders' claims, and the Court of Appeal has now affirmed that decision.

In the recent case of Re Avanti Communications Ltd (In Administration)¹, the High Court considered whether charges granted by a satellite business over certain equipment and intangible assets (the Relevant Assets) were fixed or floating.

In line with EU regulation, Luxembourg has finally passed an amendment resulting in the creation of an insolvency register, active since 10 February, 2023. The change will affect Luxembourg companies declared insolvent and is intended to improve searches of insolvency registers throughout the EU.

Current economic conditions and market instability are likely to see more Australian companies fall into distress in 2023 — creating both opportunities for proactive restructuring as well as distressed asset sales.

That's one of the predictions in this year's edition of From Red to Black, Clayton Utz's annual review of the dynamics of Australia's Restructuring and Insolvency (R&I) market.

Welcome to the 2023 edition of "From Red to Black", our annual review of significant developments and topical issues in the Australian restructuring and insolvency market.

Restructuring and insolvency professionals are showing real ingenuity when restructuring insolvent businesses, and landlords need to keep up.

Economic downturns create opportunities for the restructuring or acquisition of challenged assets, and we anticipate increased activity in this space in 2023. The indicators pointing in that direction are:

An appeal “of considerable importance for company law” in the UK could affect Australian directors' duties.

In Australia, the existence of a duty to consider the interests of creditors principally arises in the context of the fiduciary duty of directors to act in the best interests of the company. That duty finds expression in section 181(1) of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth): a director or other officer of a corporation must exercise their powers and discharge their duties in good faith in the best interests of the corporation and for a proper purpose.

Liquidators accepting a new appointment will have to think carefully if there's a possibility of disclaiming onerous property as part of that appointment.