Australia’s current corporate insolvency regime does not expressly cover how companies which structure themselves through a trust, or businesses which have a corporate trustee (corporate trusts) are to be dealt with during insolvency.

On 15 October 2021, the government released a consultation paper seeking stakeholder views on whether the treatment of corporate trusts in Australia’s insolvency law needs to be clarified. Input was also sought on the benefits which this could deliver and how any new framework might operate.

This consultation process closed on 10 December 2021.

Morton as liquidator of MJ Woodman Electrical Contractors Pty Ltd v Metal Manufactures Pty Limited [2021] FCAFC 228

The Full Court of the Federal Court confirms that a statutory set-off under s 553C(1) of the Corporations Act2001 (Cth) is not available against a liquidator’s claim for the recovery of an unfair preference under s 588FA of the Act.

Background

Despite recent criticisms of venue selection and cries to limit or curtail various provisions of the Bankruptcy Code, a recent decision from the Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of New York demonstrates that the bankruptcy courts may continue to broadly interpret the scope of their jurisdictional reach and the powers and authorities granted to them under the Bankruptcy Code. In In re JPA No. 111 Co., Ltd., No. 21-12075 (DSJ) (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. Feb.

OVERVIEW

Legislation

The High Court has sanctioned the Part 26A restructuring plan of E D & F Man Holdings Limited (the Plan) on which Freshfields has advised the E D & F Man Group (the Group). The Plan represents the first full-scale financial restructuring to utilise cross-class cram-down in respect of a financial creditor class and to amend articles of association. This scenario represents the paradigm use case practitioners and commentators envisaged when Part 26A was introduced in 2020.

It begins with an awkward mouthful. Outside a bankruptcy brief, is “unimpairment” even a word? (No, per Merriam-Webster.) Inside Chapter 11, it’s much more: a trend.

Want to refinance your bonds cheaply? Are you an otherwise sound and solvent business, forced into bankruptcy by a massive fire (PG&E), persistent low commodity pricing (Ultra Petroleum), or a pandemic (Hertz, whose airport rental business was shuttered in 2020 by COVID-19)?

Or would you just prefer to boost your stock value by lowering your coupon?

Francis Tregear QC was instructed to act as an expert in English law for the successful party (“JPA”) in a dispute heard by Hon. David S Jones a judge in the Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York.

The case turned on English law relating to mortgages and equitable principles which are applicable to mortgages. The relevant English law fell to be applied in the context of aircraft finance for the purchase of two Airbus 350-941 aircraft.

Re GTI Holdings Ltd[2021] HKCFI 3647

The Company was incorporated in the Cayman Islands and listed on the Main Board of the HKEX. The Petitioner sought to wind up the Company on the ground that the Company failed to satisfy a statutory demand served upon it on 21 January 2020. On 26 May 2020, the Company presented a winding up petition (“Petition”) against itself and applied for the appointment of PLs for restructuring purpose with the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands. Subsequently, on 28 May 2020, the Cayman Court appointed PLs over the Company.

 有關森信洋紙有限公司 (2021) 粵 03 認港破 1 號

In a recent decision of the Federal Court of Australia (Re WHBO Australia Pty Ltd[2022] FCA 234), Administrators of the Probuild group of companies (the Probuild Group) were granted a three-month extension for the convening period for the second meeting of Creditors largely due to the ‘size and complexity’ of the companies involved.

Key Takeaways