SINGAPORE INSOLVENCY, RESTRUCTURING AND DISSOLUTION BILL PASSED 

On 1 October 2018, The Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Bill was passed in Singapore. 

This will consolidate personal and corporate insolvency laws into the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act, with the Bankruptcy Act to be repealed and the relevant corporate insolvency provisions in the Companies Act being removed. 

It is an unfortunate reality that many farming businesses are operating at their limits and are struggling financially. There are several aspects of the insolvency law that should be borne in mind should you run your farm through a limited company that begins to face financial difficulty.

Directors' Duties

Directors' duties under the Companies Act:

The Facts

Mr Tailby and Mr Courtman were appointed Administrators over three connected companies: TPS Investments (UK) Ltd; ABC Prop Co Holdings Ltd and CP Investment Holdings Limited. TPS was a property developer and owned a number of properties; two of these were transferred to ABC and one to CP.

The Court interpreted the terms of a Termination Agreement and found that the Applicant, Europa, was entitled to €1.3 million from the Defendant, AII, in relation to funds invested on Europa's behalf, which had been paid out and held by AII. As a matter of construction, it could not have been intended that AII should be left with sums owing to an investor following a Termination Agreement.

The Supreme Court has recently held that directors who have caused company property to be transferred to another company under their control may be liable to restore the proceeds even after expiry of the six-year limitation period.

Mr and Mrs Fielding were directors and majority shareholders of Burnden Holdings (UK) Ltd ("BHUK"), a holding company with trading subsidiaries including Vital Energi Utilities Ltd ("Vital Energi").

In our June seminars we discussed the Pre-Pack Pool and the proposed changes to SIP 16. The revision was recommended by Teresa Graham as part of her independent review into pre-packs in June 2014, and the new SIP 16 was introduced on 2 November 2015 to coincide with the launch of the Pre-Pack Pool.

Key provisions of the revised SIP 16, which remains virtually unchanged from the draft issued in January this year, include:

The Knesset has aimed to update the law on insolvency by passing the Law of Insolvency and Economic Rehabilitation.

This has arisen as a result of the current insolvency laws being considered to be regulated under outdated legislation, being disorganised and having had a detrimental effect on debtors, creditors, and the economy. The incoming Law will take effect in 18 months' time and is designed to rectify the situation and provide the Israeli economy with modern legislation with respect to insolvency.

The Law has three primary objectives:

Directors against whom claims for a misfeasance have been intimated often turn to limitation and set off in defence of a request for the repayment or restoration of the relevant sums or property.

Misfeasance and limitation

For the benefit of our clients and friends investing in European distressed opportunities, our European Network is sharing some current developments

Recent Developments

(Bankr. E.D. Ky. Dec. 6, 2016)