If a tenant appoints a voluntary administrator, the Corporations Act protects the administrator from Landlords who would otherwise be able to re-enter the premises.

It is important to act decisively to recover possession of your premises before an administrator is appointed.

In the high-stake world of business, deals are often framed as life-or-death decisions. The pressure to close can feel insurmountable, particularly when the stakes are high, and the future of your company hangs in the balance. However, there is no deal you absolutely have to do. No matter how tempting or necessary a deal might appear, the power to walk away is one of the most valuable assets you can wield.

Question: What happens when a Chapter 7 debtor:

• fails to disclose the existence of claims against third parties;
• receives a Chapter 7 discharge and a closing of the Chapter 7 case;
• then, pursues the undisclosed claims by filing a lawsuit against the third parties; and
• the defendants in that lawsuit move to dismiss debtor’s claim for non-disclosure in the Chapter 7 bankruptcy?

That actually happened—and a U.S. District Court refused to dismiss the debtor’s lawsuit on summary judgment:

Categorisation of a charge as fixed or floating will have a significant impact on how assets are dealt with on insolvency and creditor outcomes.

Typical fixed charge assets include land, property, shares, plant and machinery, intellectual property such as copyrights, patents and trademarks and goodwill.

Typical floating charge assets include stock and inventory, trade debtors, cash and currency, movable plant and machinery (such as vehicles), and raw materials and other consumable items used by the business.

Welcome to the second edition of ML Covered, our new monthly round-up of key events that are relevant for those dealing with Management Liability Policies covering D&O, EPL and PTL-type risks.

Latest insolvencies figures & quantifying "trading misfeasance" claims

The current environment of higher interest rates and high inflation may have a deleterious effect on the retail industry. Although the fear of interest rates and inflation continuing to rise appears to have tapered off, both are still relatively high in comparison to the past twenty-year period. Each on its own can have a negative impact on the retail industry, and unfortunately, both combined can present enough challenges to a retail businesses to force them to change strategies for long-term survival.

On 19 August 2024, the High Court handed down its quantum decision in Wright v Chappell [2024] EWHC 2166 (Ch), which for the first time sets out the method for quantifying loss relating to "trading misfeasance" claims.

Introduction

1.All eyes on redemption right

Redemption rights have increasingly been under the spotlight in the past year, as more and more investors contemplate an exit from under-performing investments.

As the redemption of shares involves a return of capital, it is prohibited under Cayman Islands law except to the extent permitted by statute. Section 37 of the Cayman Islands’ Companies Act (the Act) provides:

Our latest briefing compares recent developments in the APAC restructuring market with those in the UK. Despite APAC's and the UK's divergent monetary policy and growth forecasts, we find that restructuring markets in both regions are seeing very similar themes:

Notwithstanding that the requisite statutory majority was obtained in the relevant creditors’ scheme meeting, the Hong Kong Companies Court refused to sanction a scheme of arrangement propounded by a company that professed to be insolvent in a recent judgment [2024] HKCFI 2216.

The A&O Shearman team, together with counsel Michael Lok and Jasmine Cheung, acted for the opposing creditor in these Scheme proceedings.