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It's unclear that safe harbours by themselves will provide genuine opportunities for restructuring distressed businesses.
The Productivity Commission's upcoming report on corporate insolvency will address two burning issues: ipso facto clauses and how to encourage directors to save financially-stressed companies.
Insolvency law in the British Virgin Islands is almost entirely codified in the Insolvency Act 2003 and supplemented by the Insolvency Rule 2005. The Insolvency Act was modelled largely on the UK Insolvency Act 1986, but with a number of key differences. This update summarises its features.
Introduction
There's been a drop-off, but Peter Bowden says things might be about to change.
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A section 439A report must contain all material information which is known or reasonably ascertainable by administrators.
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A DOCA can extinguish claims under a guarantee, even where those claims arise following the DOCA's termination.
If the underlying debt has already been extinguished by a DOCA, can a secured creditor still enforce the charge? A recent case explored the role of section 444D(2) of the Corporations Act in this situation, with implications for parties seeking to rely on guarantees from companies that have been through a DOCA (Australian Gypsum Industries Pty Ltd v Dalesun Holdings Pty Ltd [2015] WASCA 95).
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Section 562A of the Corporations Act does not apply where liquidator realises a sum of money by assigning the proceeds of the reinsurance claim to a third party.
Liquidators of insurance companies face a major quandary when assessing reinsurance recoveries.
A new Court decision may undercut the legislative policy that reinsurance proceeds should be quarantined from the normal rules for paying out creditors of insolvent companies.
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These three cases illustrate that strict compliance with legislative requirements continues to be imperative when serving statutory demands.
Despite what appears to be a fairly straightforward legislative regime, creditors' statutory demands appear to generate an entirely disproportionate volume of litigation in the courts. The drastic consequences of failing to comply with a creditor's statutory demand warrant very strict compliance by creditors with the technical requirements of the regime.
Orla McCoy explains the connections between retention of title clauses, insolvency, and the Personal Property Securities Act.
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Key Points:
Principals or contractors dealing with insolvent downstream companies should ensure they can properly substantiate any counterclaims.
Usually a principal is not entitled to rely on a set-off or counterclaim to resist court proceedings to recover a debt under the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2002 (Vic) (SOP Act). However because of the operation of section 553C of the Corporations Act, the situation is different if the claimant is in liquidation.
Insolvent subcontractor’s claim