Welcome to the 2024 edition of "From Red to Black", our annual review of significant developments and topical issues in the Australian restructuring and insolvency market.
Regulator intervention and government stimulus packages in response to market shocks often mask underlying systemic distress and disrupt economic cycles. With companies now largely weaned off COVID-19 support packages, insolvencies have significantly increased.
By following certain steps and focusing on relevant courses of action, directors of startups can leverage the Safe Harbour provisions to increase their chances of navigating financial difficulties and achieving a better outcome for their company.
The Alita matter serves as a good illustration that if you intend to seek leave under section 444GA(1)(b) you should act swiftly and with regard to the potential regulatory risk.
With the mass of reports, reviews and consultations that have already occurred, there is no lack of critiques, complaints and proposed solutions. The risk is that these will (once again) be cherrypicked for fixes, rather than form the basis for a comprehensive review.
It has been 33 years since the "recession we had to have" in 1991. Fears that Australia would enter a technical recession during 2023 didn’t eventuate.
The latest amendment to the Slovenian Insolvency Act (Zakon o finančnem poslovanju, postopkih zaradi insolventnosti in prisilnem prenehanju or ZFPPIPP-H), which entered into force in late 2023, introduced the concept of likely or threatening insolvency and additional duties for the company and its management, which were first described in the article Amendment to the Slovenian Insolvency Act brings additional duties to the management and supervisory bodies, published in CEE Legal Matters (
On 7 December 2022, the EU Commission published a draft directive harmonising certain aspects of insolvency law, which is now undergoing EU legislative procedure. In light of this the proposal, this article provides an overview of the current state of avoidance rights regulation under the insolvency legal framework in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Insolvency avoidance rights regulation in Bosnia and Herzegovina
In response to the EU Commission's proposal for a directive to harmonse specific elements of insolvency law on 7 December 2022, this article explores avoidance actions, one of the Directive Proposal’s key aspects, and the way avoidance actions are regulated in Serbia and Montenegro as EU candidate countries.
In the context of insolvency proceedings, avoidance actions involve the annulment of transactions undertaken by the insolvent debtor before the initiation of insolvency proceedings.
Avoidance actions in Serbia
The proposed EU Directive on the harmonisation of insolvency law aims to establish minimum conditions for exercising avoidance actions in insolvency proceedings in order to protect the bankruptcy estate against unlawful deprivation of assets prior to the opening of insolvency proceedings. In Slovenia, existing contestation rights provide a strict legal framework to prevent such transfers of assets and the proposed Directive is expected to strengthen them.
Scope of avoidance rules
On 1 November 2023, the long-awaited amendment to the Slovenian Insolvency Act (Zakon o finančnem poslovanju, postopkih zaradi insolventnosti in prisilnem prenehanju or ZFPPIPP-H) has entered into force.
Avoidance actions are a household staple for insolvency administrators to increase the insolvency estate in Austria. The current European Commission’s Proposal for a Directive (COM (2022)702) now aims to harmonise contestation rights in insolvency across all European member states.