In 2023, we saw an increase in both voluntary administration and receivership appointments in Australia. In the context of Australia's economic climate this was unsurprising — debtor companies were grappling with volatile...more
A creditors' scheme of arrangement ("Scheme") can be a powerful restructuring tool implemented to achieve a variety of outcomes for a business, ranging from deleveraging or a debt-to-equity conversion to a merger and/or issue...more
The High Court of Australia in Metal Manufactures Pty Limited v Morton [2023] HCA 1 has confirmed the view of the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia that the "set off" defence under section 553C of the Corporations...more
KEY LEGAL AND REGULATORY DEVELOPMENTS - Legislative and Regulatory Reform - Permanent reforms in respect of virtual meetings and electronic execution - On 19 October, the Federal Government released for...more
The Situation: When determining and quantifying unfair preference claims in Australia, does the Corporations Act permit liquidators to value transactions forming part of a single "continuous business relationship" (such as a...more
The Situation: Section 553C of the Corporations Act 2001 (WA) ("Act") provides that if a creditor and a company in liquidation have mutual dealings, the creditor must offset any sum the creditor owes to the company in...more
The Situation: The statutory moratorium period for voluntary administrators to restructure an insolvent company often is too short to find a solution. Administrators frequently utilise "holding" deeds of company arrangement...more
In a previous Legal Insight, we foreshadowed potential guidance from the ASX on the interaction between the new insolvent trading safe harbour laws and the continuous disclosure obligations of a public company. On 9 March...more
In Mighty River International Ltd v Hughes [2017] WASCA 152, the Western Australian Court of Appeal delivered a landmark decision approving the use of a "holding" deed of company arrangement ("DOCA")....more
The Productivity Commission has handed down its long-awaited report on Business Set-Up, Transfer and Closure (Report) to the Australian Federal Government. Key recommendations from the Report have been embraced by the...more