The Insolvency Practitioners Bill, which was first introduced to Parliament in 2010 by then Commerce Minister Simon Power, has been picked up by the new Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi. The Minister has released a Supplementary Order Paper, containing amendments to the Bill. Included in those amendments is a system of registration of insolvency practitioners with an accredited body under a new, stand-alone Act. This replaces the previous negative licensing regime originally proposed in the Bill whereby the Registrar of Companies was to be given the power
Mr Hampton was adjudicated bankrupt five years previously. Following his public examination and the filing of the Official Assignee's report, the Official Assignee and Commissioner of Inland Revenue (a creditor) accepted Mr Hampton should be discharged, but sought the imposition of conditions.
Meem SL Limited was an unsuccessful start-up company in the United Kingdom. The board resolved to put the company into administration and sell the business to a company owned by the directors.
The High Court in England was asked to consider sanctioning a scheme of arrangement between Lehman Brothers International (Europe) (in administration) (LBIE) and certain of its creditors pursuant to Part 26 Companies Act 2006 (the equivalent of Part 15 Companies Act 1993). This case was one of a number of proceedings involving the Lehman Brothers administration, many of which cases have reached the Supreme Court (see our earlier reports on
Re The Joint Liquidators of Supreme Tycoon Limited (in liquidation in the British Virgin Islands) (08/02/2018, HCMP833/2017), [2018] HKCFI 277
The Hong Kong Court of First Instance considered whether an insolvent liquidation, commenced by the shareholder of a company registered in the British Virgin Islands, was eligible for common law recognition in Hong Kong.
Creditors' compromise Part 1: the New Zealand Supreme Court view
In line with measures announced in the 2018 Federal Budget, the government has released a package of proposed insolvency reforms: Treasury Laws Amendment (Combating Illegal Phoenixing) Bill 2018, Insolvency Practice Rules (Corporations) Amendment (Restricting Related Creditor Voting Rights) Rules 2018 and accompanying explanatory material, for consultation. Consultation concludes on 27 September.
The Patent Office's decision in McCann as Liquidator of ACN 137 233 919 v Molnar [2017] APO 30 explores interesting territory for liquidators and insolvency professionals – the intersection of insolvency and intellectual property.
On 2 October 2015, a company which had gone into liquidation, Sax, filed a request to amend the ownership of a patent application from itself to its sole director, Ms Molnar, pursuant to a sale agreement by which Sax had sold all of its intellectual property to Ms Molnar for $55,000. The Patent Office recorded the amendment on 16 October 2015.
Some of the most far-reaching Australian insolvency law changes are taking effect. These new laws will restrict the enforceability of a whole class of common clauses in contracts –so called 'ipso facto' clauses.
In this edition of FINSights, we explore what these changes mean for financiers, and outline key tips and issues they should consider as we move forward into the new regime.
What are ipso facto clauses?