By Stephen Briscoe The existing provisions dealing with the winding-up of companies in Hong Kong are still largely based on the 1948 Companies Act from the UK. Of course, there have been changes over the years, but generally these haven’t been material and so we continue to use the legislation first enacted almost 70 years…
Continue ReadingUpdating the Companies Ordinance
A Missed Opportunity Republished with permission. This article first appeared in INSOL World magazine Q4 2013 By: Stephen Briscoe and Nichole Chan, BWA Hong Kong’s efforts to modernize the city’s corporate insolvency laws have resurfaced almost two decades after the city government first launched a comprehensive review of the legislation in the mid-90s, but then…
Continue ReadingProvisional Liquidators’ Agent’s Fees: Taxed or Not?
Are the fees of agents appointed by s.193 provisional liquidators (“PLs”) subject to taxation? It appears that two recent judgments have produced conflicting decisions. So what is the latest position? Taking a step back, how are the PLs appointed under s.193 remunerated? The CO is silent in this regard and as a result the Court…
Continue ReadingPanel T Appointments – The Dilemma
In 1996 Hong Kong’s Official Receiver’s Office (“ORO”) introduced what was known at the time and still is for that matter, as Panel A (Administrative Panel of Insolvency Practitioners for Court Winding-Up). Panel A, as many readers will know, was designed to enable non-summary liquidations i.e. those with assets in excess of $200,000 to be…
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