Key Points:
A forbearance arrangement is a useful instrument to ensure that both the lender and the customer are aligned on the proposed turnaround or workout.
Key Points:
A Senate Committee has said amendments to Australia's corporate insolvency laws should be considered to encourage and facilitate corporate turnarounds.
The Senate Economics References Committee called for a review of Australia's corporate insolvency laws to ensure they facilitate corporate turnarounds. One suggestion was for the implementation of certain features of the US' Chapter 11 regime into Australia's insolvency laws.
The arguments for changing the insolvency regime
Key Points:
Provided a liquidator is acting properly in conducting proceedings or realising assets, he or she is entitled to be paid fees in priority to a secured creditor.
The High Court has recently reaffirmed the principle that a liquidator is entitled to be paid his or her costs and expenses properly incurred in realising assets of a company in priority to a secured creditor. This is so even if the fund realised was derived from an action brought against a secured creditor (Stewart v Atco Controls Pty Ltd (in Liquidation) [2014] HCA 15).
Key Points:
The key to planning, devising and implementing a successful turnaround is having the right team in place to properly assess all relevant information, circumstances and risks.
MK Builders Pty Ltd v 36 Warrigal Road Pty Ltd & Ors [2014] VSC 149
The decision is significant because it confirms that a payment of a dividend to a creditor does not necessarily extinguish the company’s claim for the balance in fact owing to it.
Akers as a joint representative of Saad Investments Company Limited (in Official Liquidation) v Deputy Commissioner of Taxation [2014] FCAFC 57
The Full Federal Court has confirmed a “modified universalism” approach to cross-border insolvencies, and provided guidance on what is required for the “adequate protection” of rights of local creditors under the Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency (‘Model Law’), as enacted in Australia by the Cross-Border Insolvency Act 2008 (Cth).
Stewart v Atco Controls Pty Ltd (in liquidation) [2014] HCA 15
The High Court has held unanimously that a liquidator is entitled to an equitable lien over settlement monies for litigation expenses which the liquidator incurred for the purpose of impugning a secured creditor’s charge, applying and confirming the principle in Universal Distributing in the process.
One of the many changes to be implemented as part of the Federal Budget delivered last night was a change to the Fair Entitlements Guarantee (FEG) (previously known as the General Employee Entitlements and Redundancy Scheme or GEERS), which guarantees certain unpaid employee entitlements in the event of insolvency or bankruptcy of that person's employer.
Korda v Australian Executor Trustees (SA) Ltd [2014] VSCA 65
In Korda v Australian Executor Trustees (SA) Ltd, the VSCA may have assisted the investors in a radiata pine managed investment scheme at the expense of trusts law orthodoxy.