Insolvency Guardian Media Centre
A High Court ruling that will allow a 54-year-old woman pay a mortgage until she is 90 could help an estimated 20,000 people who are unable to pay Celtic Tiger-era debts.
Mr Justice Mark Sanfey signed off on a personal insolvency arrangement a form of financial rescue for heavily indebted borrowers that will allow Co Tipperary shop assistant Esther Kirwan remain in her home paying reduced mortgage payments for 35 years.
The arrangement had the backing of Ms Kirwans creditors, including Start Mortgage that owns the debt on her home. The deal was initially rejected by the Circuit Court on the basis that the woman could still be insolvent at 90 and facing the sale of her home to clear her debts.
Ms Kirwans financial adviser appealed it t…
Read the full article at: https://www.irishtimes.com/business/court-ruling-could-help-up-to-20-000-people-in-celtic-tiger-era-debt-1.4564577
Months after sweeping changes to insolvency laws, the budget revealed the government will re-examine what should happen when businesses go bust.
Key points:
- Laws around how failed businesses are wound-upwill be re-examined
- Broad, temporary protections set up during the pandemic have ended
- Sweeping changes were introduced in January, but have notbeen used much
That could mean a lot for businesses in trouble and thosechasing debts from them.
Robyn Erskine, partner at insolvency firm Brooke Bird, said it was disturbing the government was again raking over the systems used when businesses need to be wound up.
“They’re back having a look at that regime, only months after the introduction, and that creates uncertainty in the marketplace,” she argue…
Read the full article at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-14/insolvency-laws-set-for-reform-months-after-introduction/100132666
The High Court has approved a Personal Insolvency Arrangement that will see a 54-year-old woman continue to make mortgage repayments on her family home until she is 90 years of age.
Mr Justice Mark Sanfey approved the PIA in respect of Esther Kirwan, from Moycarkey, Thurles, Co Tipperary, in what is a regarded as an important test case in the area of personal insolvency .
The court heard that Ms Kirwan, a single shop assistant who lives alone in a three-bedroom bungalow, has debts of 108,000.
Of this 83,000 is owed to Start Mortgages in respect of her mortgage on her home, which is valued at 145,000.
The remainder is owed to AIB for loans advanced to her former business and Revenue.
Under the terms of the PIA her mortgage will be restru…
Read the full article at: https://www.rte.ie/news/courts/2021/0513/1221453-insolvency-arrangement/
TAP Air Portugal (TP, Lisbon) has filed an application in the Commercial Courts of Lisbon for the liquidation of its groundhandling company, Servicos Portugueses de Handling, S.A. (SPdH), also known by its trademark Groundforce Portugal.
The airline is a creditor of Groundforce, which to date has provided ground-handling services to TAP at Lisbon, Porto, Faro, Funchal, and Porto Santo.
At the end of April, Groundforces board of directors approved the cancellation of its groundhandling contract with TAP, alleging that the contract, as it was structured, had been unviable.
Groundforce is owned 50.1% by private entity firm Pasogal and 49.9% by the TAP Group, which, in 2020, became 72.5% owned by the Portuguese state. The TAP Group share is…
Read the full article at: https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/103595-tap-portugal-applies-for-liquidation-of-its-groundhandler
National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre at the group’s annual meeting in Dallas in May 2018. A secretive figure, LaPierre makes few public appearances outside of carefully scripted speeches. Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption
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Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Updated at 6:43 pm ET
A federal bankruptcy judge dismissed an effort by the National Rifle Association to declare bankruptcy on Tuesday, ruling that the gun rights group had not filed the case in good faith.
The ruling slams the door on the NRA’s attempt to use bankruptcy laws to evade New York officials seeking to dissolve the organization. In his decision, the federal judge said that “using this bankrup…
Read the full article at: https://www.npr.org/2021/05/11/995934682/judge-dismisses-nra-bankruptcy-case-heightening-risk-for-dissolution-of-group
ilumoni, the start-up app that aims to help people to borrow well, has raised 1.2m in an over-subscribed seed funding round after successfully launching in Beta earlier this year.
The free to use app helps people to understand and manage their borrowing better. ilumoni delivers rich, personal insights into how users borrow and repay, with full visibility of what they owe, including how long it will take to repay and how much their borrowing will cost in interest. This is combined …
Read the full article at: https://www.finextra.com/pressarticle/87606/debt-management-app-ilumoni-raises-12m-after-fca-approval-and-beta-launch
Member Article
North East business owners trying to get their operations back up to full speed as the economy reopens are potentially facing a triple challenge to achieving their goals.
Thats the view of Alexandra Withers, North East chair of insolvency and restructuring trade body R3, who was speaking after the publication of the official corporate insolvency figures for England and Wales for the first quarter of 2021.
There were 2,384 corporate insolvencies reported during the period, which represents a 21.9% reduction from the final quarter of last year and a 38.3% fall from the number of the first three months of 2020.
But despite the range of government business support measures that remain in place, the downward trend observed si…
Read the full article at: https://bdaily.co.uk/articles/2021/05/12/triple-challenge-facing-north-east-firms-as-tide-turns-on-corporate-insolvency-figures
Christopher & Lee Ong has hired Chua See Hua as a partner and co-head of the restructuring and insolvency practice in Kuala Lumpur. She joined with a team from her boutique firm Chua Associates that she founded in 2010.
Her practice extends to advising major corporations on transactions involving acquisitions and divestments of public and private companies, banking, property-related issues, private equity investments, and capital markets.
Chua brought her extensive legal experience in restructuring and insolvency and a wide-ranging roster of local and international clients. She is a member of the Insolvency Practice Committee of the Malaysian Association of Certified Public Accountants.
She has led many notable deals f…
Read the full article at: https://law.asia/christopher-lee-ong-gets-new-restructuring-head/
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has unveiled the federal governments 20212022 budget, committing tosupporting jobs and essential servicesin the year ahead.
In response, non-bank small business lender ScotPac said, overall, the budget gives SMEs a great opportunity to invest in their own growth so recovery momentum continues.
There are positive initiatives to support the small business sector, and the focus on boosting consumer confidence should also help businesses,ScotPac CEO Jon Sutton said.
This is a small business-friendly budget that should give SMEs the confidence to invest in their own growth, as the economic recovery gathers momentum.
What this means is its time for SMEs to really think about their business plans, about restructuring …
Read the full article at: https://www.mybusiness.com.au/management/8136-what-smes-need-more-of-post-budget
An Auckland property company that took millions in taxpayer funds to house the homeless has left Inland Revenue (IRD) and landlords out of pocket after going into liquidation.
File picture. Source: rnz.co.nz
By Nita Blake-Persen for rnz.co.nz
Silverfern Property Services has received more than any other outfit for emergency housing – $14.7 million – and charged nearly $2000 per client per week to house people in rental properties it managed across South Auckland.
Tenants who stayed there described many of the homes as substandard.
Social worker Alastair Russell, who worked with families staying in the properties, said what he saw was not fit for people to live in.
“Debris around the outside of the houses, the houses were …
Read the full article at: https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/auckland-property-company-in-liquidation-after-taking-millions-wage-subsidies
Thats why the Morrison government is committed to building on our already significant insolvency reforms, keeping more businesses in business and driving Australias economic growth.
The new measures will make up part of the non-spending announcements in the May 11 budget and undergo a period of consultation and review to determine if and how they should proceed.
Debtor in possession
Sweeping insolvency reforms, the broadest in 30 years, announced in last years budget, and which came into effect on January 1, were limited to incorporated business with liabilities of up to $1 million.
Under the changes, small businesses in financial distress can seek advice from an insolvency practitioner on developing a restructuring plan. If 50 per cent…
Read the full article at: https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/insolvency-overhaul-to-assist-pandemic-rebuilding-efforts-20210502-p57o6j
Employees working for an insolvent company will have to be given at least 30 days’ notice of redundancy, under new legislative reforms to be introduced by the Government.
The proposal is part of a new Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment Action Plan to boost the rights of employees hit by insolvency – an issue highlighted in recent years by the controversial closures of Clerys and Debenhams.
At present, collective redundancies cannot take effect until after a statutory 30-day period of notification to employees.
However, this does not apply to collective redundancies triggered by insolvency – due to an exemption in Section 14 (3) of the Protection of Employment Act 1977.
The Government is now planning to remove that exemption…
Read the full article at: https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2021/0512/1221259-redundancy-reforms/