Op 28 juni 2021 heeft het kabinet een wetsvoorstel in consultatie gebracht met als doel de turboliquidatie van rechtspersonen transparanter te maken voor schuldeisers. Om dat te bereiken, stelt de minister voor dat het bestuur van een rechtspersoon binnen tien werkdagen na de ontbinding een aantal documenten deponeert bij het Handelsregister en van de deponering mededeling doet aan de schuldeisers. Ook bevat het voorstel de mogelijkheid om, indien een bestuurder de nieuwe regels niet naleeft, een bestuursverbod op te leggen.

On 28 June 2021 the Dutch government initiated a public consultation procedure concerning a legislative proposal intended to make expedited liquidation of legal entities more transparent for creditors. To achieve this goal, the Minister has proposed that the management board of a legal entity should file a number of documents with the Trade Register within 10 days of liquidation and then notify their creditors that they have done so. The proposal also allows for the possibility of disqualifying a managing director who should fail to observe the new rules.

In this edition of the Going concerns, our Stephenson Harwood restructuring and insolvency team provides a brief update on the newest developments in Singapore, UK and Hong Kong. For Singapore, we update on the "conflict" between the admiralty and insolvency regimes while our London team provides an update on the cutting-edge Part 26A restructuring plans. Last but certainly not least, our Hong Kong team dissects and discusses the significance and impact of the new cooperation mechanism for Hong Kong liquidators and Mainland administrators to seek mutual recognition and assistance.

Slotine explains the nuts and bolts of the two routes towards closing down a solvent company in Hong Kong: members’ voluntary winding-up and deregistration.

Many businesses are continuing to struggle as a result of the ongoing pandemic and while many will bounce back, unfortunately others may struggle. If your company’s solvency is at risk or could be in the future, as a director there are various legal issues and responsibilities you need to be aware of.

Here we take a look at directors duties.

What are director’s duties?

Generally, its directors owe the following duties to a company:

• to act bona fide in its interests

• not to act for any personal or collateral purpose

This week’s TGIF considers the decision of Palace v RCR O’Donnell Griffin Pty Ltd (in liq)[2021] QCA 137, in which the Queensland Court of Appeal provided useful guidance on the principles to be applied when a party seeks leave under section 500(2) of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) to bring proceedings against a company in liquidation.

Key Takeaways

With Hertz emerging from a bankruptcy with a positive result for shareholders, we are reminded of the interplay between the equity markets and the bankruptcy alternative.

Some firms facing financial challenges during the pandemic were able to avoid a bankruptcy filing altogether because of their ability to raise the necessary funds through an equity offering. Hertz provides an example of a situation where the bankruptcy filing instead of wiping out the equity enhanced value.

Dieses Legal Update ist Teil einer Reihe, mit welcher die für Praktiker relevanten Änderungen zum Aktienrecht in kondensierter Form dargestellt werden. Bereits publizierte Legal Updates finden Sie auf unserer Website unter Aktienrechtsrevision 2020. Neue Legal Updates zum Thema Aktienrechtsreform werden regelmässig an unsere Newsletter-Subscriber verschickt und auf unserer Website publiziert.

Übersicht

Some further important guidance by Zacaroli J in the recent judgment on Hurricane Energy. In that case, the company (with the support of the company's ad hoc committee of bond holders who were going to take 95% of the equity under the plan in return for certain adjustments to the bonds) sought to cram down the class of dissenting shareholders through a restructuring plan ("plan").

Section 90-15 of the Insolvency Practice Schedule (the IPS) confers on Courts wide powers to adjust rights related to companies in external administration. Here, the administrators of a mining group obtained orders approving their entry into a deed to fund the ongoing operation of the group pending sale and limiting their liability under the deed to the company’s assets. The Court accepted the administrators’ evidence that this funding was urgently required to continue the Group’s operations pending a sale, the prospects of which were thereby maximised.