It is common for liquidators (and all of us working in the insolvency industry) to work with a few firms or individuals and for referrals to predominantly be distributed amongst those. In the recent decision in Re Walton Construction Pty Ltd (In Liq); ASIC V Franklin [2014] FCA 68, the Federal Court considered when that relationship might amount to a conflict.
On 1 August 2013, an act amending the Business Continuity Act ("BCA") of 31 January 2009 entered into force.
The new act tackles the most common types of abuse under the Business Continuity Act and aims to reduce the number of bankruptcies following reorganisation governed by the BCA. The basic principles of the Business Continuity Act remain unchanged, however.
A Deed of Company Arrangement (DOCA) is essentially the equivalent of a PIA for a corporation. However, a company must be in administration for a DOCA to be proposed.
A Personal Insolvency Agreement, otherwise known as a PIA, is a flexible arrangement between debtors and their creditors. It involves a debtor putting forward a proposal as to how their financial affairs should be administered with a view to ensuring that creditors receive a dividend in respect of their debts.
A PIA will only come into operation if it has been accepted by a special resolution at a meeting of creditors – meaning a majority in numbers and at least 75% in value must vote in favour of the PIA.
Partner, Michael Lhuede and Senior Associate, Ben Hartley discuss the recent Federal Court decision of AMWU v Beynon that dealt with directors’ personal liability for the payment of employee entitlements.
Introduction
Insolvency practitioners need to be aware of the potential for incurring personal liability under civil penalty provisions for contraventions of the Fair Work Act and how they can protect themselves from claims when accepting appointments.
In a ground-breaking decision, the Dutch Supreme Court recently found that a foreign bankruptcy trustee may in principle exercise the powers conferred on him under the lex concursus (the law governing the bankruptcy) in the Netherlands as well. Such powers can include the management and disposal of assets located in the Netherlands at the time of the foreign bankruptcy order.
There has recently been a number of successful pre-pack restructurings in the Netherlands. A 'pre-pack' is the term used for the restructuring of a company through a transaction that is prepared as much as possible outside formal insolvency proceedings, and whereby the enterprise survives, but some or all of the company's debt is restructured. The aim of preparing the transaction in advance is to ensure maximum preservation of value. Several structures can be distinguished.