This week’s TGIF considers a recent decision of the Federal Court where a company was found to be ‘insolvent’ for the purposes of assessing breach and termination of a contract, despite its subsequent survival and ongoing trading.

Key Takeaways

When it comes to corporate restructuring, the focus tends to remain firmly on the dollars and cents while the immigration consequences for the company’s foreign national employees are sometimes the last items considered, if considered at all. However, these immigration consequences can be quite significant and can include the loss of critical employees or lead to employer sanctions if employees are employed without valid work authorization.

The Rating (Coronavirus) and Directors Disqualification (Dissolved Companies) Bill (the Bill) is, at the time of writing, at second reading stage in the House of Lords and progressing quickly towards becoming law later this year.

In a landmark bankruptcy case judgment issued on 10 October 2021 the Dubai Court of First Instance has held the directors and managers of an insolvent Dubai-based PJSC to be personally liable to pay the outstanding debts of the previously listed company (now in liquidation) pursuant to the UAE Bankruptcy Law. This decision represents a very significant milestone in the UAE insolvency landscape since the enactment of the Bankruptcy Law in late 2016, being the first known instance of a case where such personal liability has been ordered.

Tax reform 2021, land market opening, CFC rules, new requirements on disclosure of ultimate beneficial owners as well as companies’ corporate structure and a lot more – the novelties of the first half of 2021 raised lots of questions, as they relate to all those living, working and carrying out entrepreneurial activity in Ukraine.

GOLAW Team has prepared a new issue of the «Analyses and Forecasts of the legislative changes».

Contents:

ПІДСУМКИ ТА ПРОГНОЗИ ЗАКОНОДАВЧИХ ЗМІН Перше півріччя 2021 Відкриття ринку землі в Україні: Що потрібно знати? Відповідальність за неподання декларації та приховування статків: Що нового передбачає закон? Відповідальність платників податків: Що змінилося у 2021 році? Контрольовані іноземні компанії: Поточний стан і погляд в майбутнє Кінцеві бенефіціари і корпоративна структура компанії: Нові вимоги до розкриття Нові правила оподаткування непрямого продажу нерухомості 2 6 11 Податкова амністія для приватних осіб: 14 Можливість чи зачіпка для переслідування?

1. Related Fund Entity filings for private funds]

On 1 September 2021, the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) issued a Notice advising industry that a new Related Fund Entity (RFE) form for private funds was available for use via CIMA's Regulatory Enhanced Electronic Forms Submission (REEFS) portal.

In Australia, s 436A of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (Act) provides for the circumstances in which a company may appoint a voluntary administrator. This provision requires the company’s board to resolve that: (a) in the opinion of the directors voting for the resolution, the company is insolvent, or is likely to become insolvent at some future time; and (b) an administrator of the company should be appointed.

Most restructuring professionals will tell you that there is no “typical” restructuring. That is absolutely true. Every financially distressed business is different and the character and direction of its restructuring will be highly dependent upon, among others, its capital structure, its liquidity profile, and the level of support it can build for its reorganization among key stakeholder bodies. Nevertheless, there are some important similarities in the way that any company should initially address a distressed situation.

Swee Siang Boey, Vani Nair, Selina Toh and Suchitra Kumar, RPC Premier Law

This is an extract from the 2022 edition of GRR's the Asia-Pacific Restructuring Review. The whole publication is available here.

In summary