In brief
On 28 April 2020, it was presented before the Chamber of Senators an initiative of reform to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Law that pretends to add an emergency insolvency proceeding. Such proceeding foresees that companies that are financially affected by an emergency (such as the COVID-19 pandemic, for example) can request and be subject to an automatic declaration of insolvency.
Among the main proposals of additions, there is the creation of a new insolvency proceeding with the following characteristics:
In brief
Even with the fiscal stimulus and other measures taken by the Federal and State governments in Australia, corporate insolvencies are likely to increase in coming months.
Under Australia's insolvency regimes, a distressed company may be subject to voluntary administration, creditor's voluntary winding up or court ordered winding up (collectively, an external administration). Each of these processes raises different issues for the commencement and continuation of court and arbitration proceedings.
In brief
The North America Tax Practice Group presented The Future of IP Planning, the fourth webinar in the series The Importance of Tax in the Response to COVID-19 on 1 May 2020.
In brief
The Chairman of the Supreme Court has just issued a decree on judicial guidelines for bankruptcy and court supervised restructuring (PKPU) processes ("Supreme Court Decree"), which sets out how Commercial Court judges are to manage bankruptcy and PKPU cases.
In brief
The Federal Judiciary Council issued on April 27, 2020, the General Resolution 8/2020 on the Work Plan and Contingency Measures in the Jurisdictional Entities as a consequence of the Covid-19 Virus (the "Resolution").
The Resolution establishes that during the period from May 6 to May 31, 2020, only new requests, claims, ancillary proceedings and appeals, i.e. not previously filed, will be processed in urgent cases, regardless of whether they are filed physically or electronically.
Overview
The voluntary administration procedure in the Corporations Act was introduced in 1993. Prior to this, the only formal mechanism for a company to compromise with its creditors was by a creditors’ scheme of the arrangement, a process often regarded as costly, time-consuming and cumbersome.
The primary objective of voluntary administration is to provide for the business, property and affairs of an insolvent company to be administered in a way that:
In Clifton (Liquidator) v Kerry J Investment Pty Ltd trading as Clenergy [2020] FCAFC 5, the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia found that:
The Singapore Court of Appeal has clarified the standard of review that applies to winding-up applications where the underlying relationship between the debtor and creditor is subject to an arbitration agreement.
Background
Under Section 254(2)(a) of the Singapore Companies Act, a company can be wound-up by the court upon the application of a creditor who has served a statutory demand on the company for a debt of SGD 10,000 or more and the debt continues to remain unpaid for three weeks thereafter.
United States: Federal Reserve releases details of lending programs in response to COVID-19 pandemic, including Main Street lending program for mid-sized businesses
On 9 April 2020, the Federal Reserve announced that it would be providing up to USD 2.3 trillion in loans to support the US economy in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Singapore Court of Appeal has clarified the standard of review that applies to winding-up applications where the underlying relationship between the debtor and creditor is subject to an arbitration agreement.