The Court refused to declare an appointment of administrators invalid under section 447C of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) on the basis of a previous purportedly invalid removal of a director and alleged insufficient grounds to establish that the company was, or was likely to become insolvent.  This case illustrates the Court’s willingness to overlook technical anomalies in exercising its discretion under section 447C where the end result for the company would be the same, and a broad approach in assessing whether there are reasonable grounds to form a view that a company

On March 7, 2014 the Spanish Government approved the Royal Decree Law 4/2014 adopting urgent measures on debt refinancing and restructuring ("Real Decreto-ley 4/2014, de 7 de marzo, por el que se adoptan medidas urgentes en material de refinanciación y reestructuración de deuda empresarial" or "RDL 4/2014").  

Act 22/2003, of July 9 ("Spain's Insolvency Act"), has been recently amended to include a new chapter regulating the so-called "insolvency mediators" and the extrajudicial settlement of payments ("ESP") as a form of negotiating the debts of the entrepreneurs.

The reform has been introduced by Act 14/2013, of September 27, on entrepreneurs and their internationalization (hereinafter, the "

Act

On March 7, 2014 the Spanish Government approved the Royal Decree Law 4/2014 adopting urgent measures on business debt refinancing and restructuring ("Real Decreto-ley 4/2014, de 7 de marzo, por el que se adoptan medidas urgentes en material de refinanciación y reestructuración de deuda empresarial" or "RDL 4/2014"). The aim of this new regulation is the implementation of legal measures necessary to achieve the viable restructuring of debtors.

This case serves as an important reminder that board appointments should not be taken lightly - even as a “personal favour”.  Directors should ensure that they are sufficiently abreast of the affairs of their companies and actively involved in their management.  An argument that a director was “not really involved” in management is unlikely to find favour when the company finds itself in strife.

Spanish Secondary Regulation develops the Spanish Mediation Law dated July 6th 2012 (hereinafter the "Regulation") published in the Official Gazette last December 27th 2013. 

Mediators' training

I)     Introduction

This decision is a testament to the flexibility of schemes of arrangement in Australia as a means of effecting settlements with a company’s creditors as well as third parties such as the company’s insurers. The Federal Court also demonstrated its propensity to take a liberal interpretation of what constitutes a “compromise or arrangement” to enliven its jurisdiction to convene a meeting of creditors for the purpose of considering a proposed scheme of arrangement.

From 15 August 2013, the Insolvency & Trustee Service Australia (ITSA) will now be known as the Australian Financial Security Authority (AFSA). The name change is thought to better capture the breadth of the services administered by the authority, but the services remain the same, namely, the administration and regulation of Australia’s personal insolvency system and the administration of the Personal Property Securities Register.

The Federal Court found that where a trust deed provides for the cessation of a corporate trustee upon the appointment of an administrator or upon a resolution for its liquidation (and there is no replacement trustee appointed), the corporate trustee retains its right of indemnity and continues as bare trustee but does not have the power to sell the trust assets.  However, the Court was persuaded to grant relief to the liquidators of the trustee (who had sold trust assets) on the basis they had not been advised by their solicitors of the disqualification clause and they com