On 1 October 2018, the Singapore Parliament passed the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Bill (the "Bill"), an omnibus legislation which will consolidate Singapore's personal insolvency, corporate insolvency and restructuring laws, which are currently under separate legislative regimes.

The overhaul follows recent amendments to the corporate insolvency and restructuring provisions of the Singapore Companies Act, and is part of a wider effort to boost the debt restructuring ecosystem in Singapore.

Key provisions introduced by the bill

1. Genussrechte können nur dann als inhaltsgleiche Schuldverschreibungen aus Gesamtemissionen dem Schuldverschreibungsgesetz unterfallen, wenn sie in einer Urkunde verbrieft sind (Genussschein).
2. In einem Prozess über Rechte der Schuldverschreibungsgläubiger aus den Schuldverschreibungen sind diese auch dann Partei des Prozesses, wenn sie einen gemeinsamen Vertreter bestellt haben.
3. Die Vertretungsmacht im Insolvenzverfahren berechtigt den gemeinsamen Vertreter auch ohne vorhergehenden gesonderten Beschluss der Gläubigerversammlung, der Forderungsanmeldung eines anderen Gläu

Are you a company director? If so, are you fully aware of your responsibilities and duties to your company? It is common for directors to be completely uninformed of the full extent of their duties, sometimes holding the belief that they can essentially do what they like – particularly if they are also a sole shareholder, which is often the case with SMEs.

What are directors’ duties?

Golden Rule 1: comply with the 7 general duties in the Companies Act 2006 (“the Act”)

In your capacity as a director you need to individually and personally comply with the seven codified statutory duties as a starting point.

Foreign judgments may be enforced in Australia under the Foreign Judgments Act 1991 or, if that Act does not apply, pursuant to common law principles.

Registration and enforcement pursuant to the Foreign Judgments Act 1991

The benefits of being a director of a limited company are many. Not necessarily because of the tax benefits but, rather, the personal protection given to directors by the corporate veil surrounding limited companies.

That corporate veil means that directors’ liabilities for the debts of the company are limited to the extent of their shareholding (maybe £1) in the UK this concept (outside insolvency) is sacrosanct and protected by the Courts.

2018 has been one tough year on the High Street...

Retail, as a sector, has long been under pressure from increased competition from online retailers, which has resulted in reduced footfall on the High Street, affecting many companies, including many well-known names.

1. It is hard to get rid of this preconceived idea that unlike other systems, the French insolvency system (excessively) favours debtors at the expense of their creditors.

Some recent decisions make it possible to question this idea.

These decisions deal with the conditions required for the approval of a safeguard plan and are warnings to debtors that might be tempted to force their plan through.

Safeguard proceedings end with the court-approval of a restructuring plan when there are serious chances of rescuing the business (French Commercial Code, Art. L.626-1).

At just before 7.00am on Monday 15 January 2018 following an urgent telephone hearing, a High Court Judge agreed to place six of the Carillion Group companies into compulsory liquidation and appoint the Official Receiver as Liquidator. At the same time, six partners of PwC were appointed as Special Managers to assist the Liquidators.

Do you know the new rules?

The alarming increase in "speculative mergers" and the increasingly frequent occurrence of strawmen in commercial companies' management structures has long been seen as a major obstacle on the Slovak market. In response, the Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic has amended the Commercial Code to support and encourage business in Slovakia.

Below we summarise the key changes that affect all business entities, not only with respect to mergers, but also in other areas of day-to-day commercial activity in Slovakia.