The Hong Kong court in Re The Joint Liquidators of Supreme Tycoon Limited (in liquidation in the British Virgin Islands) (08/02/2018, HCMP833/2017), [2018] HKCFI 277 (Re Supreme Tycoon) has, for the first time, granted recognition and assistance to foreign liquidators appointed in a creditors' voluntary winding-up.
Rian Matthews and Kate Ballantine-Dykes from Baker McKenzie have published an article entitled “Common law to the rescue: bridging gaps in international and domestic restructuring and insolvency regimes” in Corporate Rescue and Insolvency.
The Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury recently announced that the Companies (Winding Up and Miscellaneous Provisions) (Amendment) Ordinance (the “Amendment Ordinance”) will come into operation on 13 February 2017. The Amendment Ordinance introduces a more efficient administration of the winding-up process and streamlines the procedures in line with international developments. The new legislation also aims to further protect creditors against asset depletion of insolvent companies.
Our alert discusses these developments.
Dispute Resolution Beijing/Hong Kong/Shanghai Client Alert Hong Kong Court Paves a Clear Path for the Recognition and Assistance of Foreign Liquidators Recent developments The recent decision of the Hong Kong court in Re Rennie Produce (Aust) Pty Ltd (In Liquidation in Australia) (HCMP 1640/2016, 26 August 2016), together with the prior decision in Re Joint Official Liquidators of Centaur Litigation SPC (In Liquidation) (HCMP 3389/2015, 3391/2015 and 3393/2015, 10 March 2016) have confirmed the court’s willingness to accede to letters of request issued by foreign courts for the recognition
On 30 January 2020, the World Health Organization declared that the coronavirus outbreak constituted a public health emergency of international concern. The PRC and Hong Kong have been at the forefront of the coronavirus outbreak.
The Court of Appeal (CA) recently dismissed an appeal to set aside a statutory demand arising out of the failure to pay margin calls in But Ka Chon v. Interactive Brokers LLC (02/08/2019, CACV 611/2018) [2019] HKCA 873, despite the presence of a mandatory arbitration clause. Obiter comments of the CA put into question the recent case law in Re Southwest Pacific Bauxite (HK) Ltd [2018] 2 HKLRD 449 (the “Lasmos case“) that a petition should “generally be dismissed” in the face of a mandatory arbitration clause.
Some key points
On 15 July 2019, UNCITRAL formally approved a new model law (linked here) for enterprise group insolvencies on how to administer group insolvencies across multiple jurisdictions. A lesson learnt from the 2008 global financial crisis when we saw the collapse of Lehman Brothers was the absence of legislation that dealt with group insolvencies. This has been identified as a major gap in UNCITRAL’s model law on cross-border insolvency (MLCBI).
In brief
In Chan WS and Chan CNP v. CC Bank [2022] HKCA 1037 ("CA Decision"), the Court of Appeal (CA) recently overturned a decision in the Court of First Instance (CFI) to set aside two statutory demands (SDs) on the ground of overstatement of the debt in the SDs ("CFI Decision").
On 27 May 2022, the Honorable Mr. Justice Harris sanctioned a scheme of arrangement introduced by Rare Earth Magnesium Technology Group Holdings Limited, which was incorporated in Bermuda, to restructure its debt. The Reasons for Decision handed down on 6 June 2022 contain detailed discussions on, among other things, the use of schemes in cross-border insolvencies.
In brief
On 6 May 2022, the Honorable Madam Justice Linda Chan granted a petition for the winding-up (in Hong Kong) of Up Energy Development Group Limited, which was incorporated in Bermuda.