The Federal Court in Hema Maps Pty Ltd v HemaX Digital Pty Ltd, in the matter of HemaX Digital Pty Ltd [2024] FCA 1127, appointed a provisional liquidator to preserve the status quo until the determination of a winding up application. This winding up application was due to a deadlock and an irreparable breakdown in relations between shareholders, and mismanagement of the company.

Key Takeaways

In a judgment issued yesterday (Francis v Gross [2024] NZCA 528), the Court of Appeal unanimously overturned the controversial High Court decision in Francis v Gross [2023] NZHC 1107 and held that purchasers of partly constructed modular buildings (pods) did not have equitable liens (at all, and especially not in priority to secured creditors) over those pods.

Seit 25 Jahren bietet die InsO verschiedene Werkzeuge, um Gläubiger bestmöglich befriedigen und gleichzeitig Unternehmen nachhaltig sanieren zu können.

1. Introduction

A distressed merger and acquisition (“M&A”) is essentially a sub-category of a conventional M&A, which involves sales of shares or assets of companies that are in financial turmoil and these companies are being placed under administration, receivership and/or liquidation. Due to the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic, distressed M&A transactions have become more common in recent years with companies in financial and operational distress looking to dispose of their assets to better manage high illiquidity as well as reducing over-indebtedness risk.

Background

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) has on 24 September 2024 published the IBBI (Insolvency Resolution Process for Corporate Persons) (Second Amendment) Regulations, 2024 (Amendment Regulations) with the primary aim to streamline and reduce the delays faced in insolvencies containing class of creditors. 

Amendments Introduced

One common denominator links nearly all stressed businesses: tight liquidity. After the liquidity hole is identified and sized, the discussion inevitably turns to the question of who will fund the necessary capital to extend the liquidity runway. For a PE-backed business where there is a credible path to recovery, a sponsor, due to its existing equity stake, is often willing to inject additional capital into an underperforming portfolio company.

The Federal Court of Australia recently handed down a landmark judgment against a third party adviser for devising an asset-stripping scheme and breaching the creditor-defeating disposition provisions of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth).

In a significant development for the crypto industry, a Delaware bankruptcy court has approved a plan for FTX to return more than $14 billion worth of assets to its creditors. The embattled cryptocurrency exchange, which filed for bankruptcy protection in November 2022, previously estimated that it owed creditors around $11.2 billion. The approved plan will see 98% of creditors receiving 119% of the value of their allowed claims as of the bankruptcy filing date, reflecting a remarkable recovery for affected parties.

Recouping Billions for Distribution

When you read the papers do you start from the front or back? I usually skim read the front-page headlines and immediately flick to the back (sport) pages. It’s less dispiriting that way. Or if it’s the weekend, I fumble my way through the different sections, past the gazillions of adverts showcasing tyre inflators and hair loss treatments, before I land at the sports section. They don’t make it easy for you do those weekend editors.