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.

Key Points:

What the protracted negotiations surrounding Nine Entertainment have demonstrated is the importance of an interested party being able to assert they have an economic interest in the company.

Key Points: All companies, regardless of their size or solvency, must ensure that they have appropriate systems for dealing with statutory demands.

In my last article, I looked at the use of statutory demands. Time now to go through the looking glass and examine the impact of demands on the companies which receive them.

First, a brief recap …

The abolition of the "peak indebtedness" rule will complicate liquidators' tasks, not least its adverse effect on pursuing preferences where it's unclear what forms the single transaction.

The equitable doctrine of marshalling can protect the security interests of subordinate secured creditors when a debtor becomes insolvent.

Marshalling is a neglected tool in the insolvency toolbox, but it can play an important role in protecting the security interests of subordinate secured creditors.

When faced with multiple class action threats, there is little downside in a company giving consideration to a creditors’ scheme of arrangement to achieve a quicker and cheaper resolution of the underlying claims.

In handing over any documents in litigation or Court process, you must assess whether or not the documents have tax relevance.

Particularly in smaller external administrations, the court will not blindly accept time-based remuneration as reflecting the value of the work, but will consider the proportionality of the remuneration.

In a number of recent judgments, the courts appear to be favouring considerations of proportionality coupled with an assessment of the realisations achieved when assessing application for the approval of remuneration for external administrators.

There's been a drop-off, but Peter Bowden says things might be about to change.

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Key Points:

The NSW Supreme Court says it can provide directions on an administrator's commercial decision on the basis of the liability assumed by administrators and their partners.