In Official Assignee in Bankruptcy of the Property of Cooksley, in the matter of Cooksley v Cooksley, the Federal Court of Australia was asked to consider a letter of request from the New Zealand High Court for assistance under the Bankruptcy Act 1996 (Cth) and the Foreign Insolvency Act 2008 (Cth). By the letter of request from the High Court, the New Zealand Official Assignee sought assistance to enforce income contributions by a New Zealand bankrupt resident in Australia.

Wentworth Metals Group Pty Ltd (Wentworth) applied under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (Act), for a review by the Federal Court of Australia of a decision by the liquidators of Bonython Metals Group Pty Ltd to sell Bonython's interest in a joint venture mining project to Pure Metals Pty Ltd. 

The recent Australian Federal Court case of Neeat Holdings (in liq) [2013] FCA 61 considered the issue of whether the liquidator of a trustee company should be permitted to sell trust assets notwithstanding the appointment of a new trustee in substitution for the insolvent trustee company.

In Saker, in the matter of Great Southern Managers Australia Ltd (Receivers and Managers Appointed) (in liquidation), the plaintiffs were the liquidators of Great Southern Managers of Australia Limited (GSMAL).

In a decision which has not yet been confirmed by the German Federal Court, the Higher Regional Court of Celle (an appellate court) has decided that a German policyholder of UK life insurer Equitable Life is not protected by a scheme of arrangement which had been approved by the London High Court in February 2002 (OLG Celle 8 U 46/09 from 8 September 2009). The claimant had challenged that, following the scheme of arrangement, he would have had received lesser profit payments. A final decision of the German Federal Court is expected at the end of 2010.

In a series of recent decisions1, the Federal Court of Australia has held that section 588FL of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (Corporations Act) operates such that any new security granted by a company in external administration2. that could only be perfected by registration on the Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR), and which is not the subject of an effective registration made before the appointment of the external administrator, will be ineffective3.

On 1 September 2017, the remaining parts of the new Insolvency Practice Schedule (IPS) introduced by the Insolvency Law Reform Act 2016 (Cth) as Schedule 2 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (Corporations Act) commenced operation, including the provisions relating to "funds handling" contained in Division 65 of the IPS. These provisions apply to all "external administrations"1. including those that commenced prior to 1 September 20172.

What you need to know

The Federal Court – in a much-litigated wider contest about the ownership of the luxury yacht, “Dragon Pearl” drifting in an intriguing cross-border insolvency – has clarified the limitations for foreign entities and their insolvency appointees in pursuing action in Australia to un-wind antecedent transactions (by attempting to use the voidable transaction provisions of the Australian Corporations Act).

Insolvency and restructuring professionals need to know:

In a recent decision of the Federal Court of Australia (Sino Group International Limited v Toddler Kindy Gymbaroo Pty Ltd [2022] FCA 630), administrators were held to have validly admitted a $5 million claim for a nominal value of one dollar.

The case is a timely reminder of the importance of appropriately evidencing debts, particularly for the purposes of creditors meetings to determine next steps.

Key takeaways

This week’s TGIF considers the decision in ACN 093 117 232 Pty Ltd (In Liq) v Intelara Engineering Consultants Pty Ltd (In Liq) [2019] FCA 1489, where the Court determined that a transaction described as a ‘legal phoenix’ by the advising practitioner was, in fact, an uncommercial transaction and an unreasonable director related transaction.

What happened?