Squire Patton Boggs (LexBlog Australia)

In our latest insight we look back at the key restructuring cases and events from last year in the United States, Asia-Pacific, and Australia and consider the outlook in 2024 for restructuring transactions as a whole.   This insight provides an overview of the US banking crisis involving Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, the...

How IPEF Builds On Prior Trade Relationships Negotiated By The Biden Administration: In May 2023, the Biden Administration announced the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF), a commitment to improving supply chains between the U.S., and the Indo-Pacific nations of Australia, Brunei, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea,...

The uncertainty in markets continues as a result of a number of issues, including monetary policy, supply chain challenges, labour market constraints, increased creditor activities and a balance sheet reckoning post-COVID-19 where government support propped up unworthy businesses. That potentially debilitating economic cocktail is compounded by the fact that all entities have a debt ceiling,...

Companies entering external administration often have outstanding tax filings. The external controllers appointed conduct initial and ongoing reviews as to those filings. Then, in time, they either bring the filings up to date or engage the tax office in order to revisit historical filings. Aside from being legally required to address a company’s filings, external...

Status:  Upcoming/New filing Acquirer: Lightning-A Limited (Bailiwick of Jersey) Acquired: Livent Corporation (U.S.); Allkem Limited (Australia) Value: $10.1 billion Industry Tags: Mining and Extraction; Lithium On May 10, 2023, Australian publicly traded company Allkem Limited (ASX:AKE) and U.S. publicly trade Livent Corporation (NYSE:LTHM) “announced the signing of a definitive agreement . . . 

There is a growing emphasis on the need to properly manage psychosocial hazards in the workplace that may create a risk to workers’ health and safety. But recent changes to safety laws indicate that psychosocial hazards include the potentially subjective concept of “poor organisational justice”. Have things gone too far, or is “poor organisational justice”...

External administrators in Australia are faced with immediate challenges from the date of their appointment. Those challenges often come in the form of uncertainty around contractual positions, conflicting interests between key stakeholders and the administrators’ rights and obligations. Fortunately, the Insolvency Practice Schedule, which now forms a critical part of Australia’s Corporations Act,

The new year has seen a rapid pace being set in terms of anticipated and actual legislative, regulatory and common law changes across Australia’s restructuring and insolvency regimes. In our latest insight we flag potential changes to not only the legislative regime but also the regulatory framework and consider the outlook for key stakeholders.

This article was written for and first published by LawInSport. The original version is available to view here During Australia’s 2022 National Rugby League season, seven players from the Manly Sea Eagles, a team in the National Rugby League competition, refused to play in a jersey that featured rainbow trim. The design, called the “Everyone...

Economic, trading and supply chain uncertainties persist and are particularly pronounced in some sectors including infrastructure and construction where sub-contractors often feel significant pressure points. In our latest Australian insight, following the Federal Court rejecting the liquidators’ proprietary interest claims in the proceeds of performance bonds and upholding the head-contractor’s...

The High Court in Australia has determined that territorial limitations do not curtail group member participation rights in class actions. Read what this decision means in our latest Insight.

As global economies continue to experience uncertainties, it is likely that financial service providers and their dealings with consumers and small businesses will come under the microscope. Masi Zaki and Kate Spratt consider those issues from the perspective of of Australian Financial Service Licence holders in our latest alert.

The Australian government is consulting on a proposal to expand the role the Takeovers Panel plays in control transactions, with an aim of reducing the time and costs of mergers and acquisitions. The proposal includes options for the Takeovers Panel to regulate control transactions by scheme of arrangement.   This article considers the proposed reforms and...

In the common law world, Australia is a global market leader in terms of intense litigation in class action and corporate collapse contexts. It is, therefore, not surprising that contradictors are becoming increasingly common in heavily contested litigation. In our latest alert in our litigation funding series, we consider whether contradictors will have an important...

In our latest article as part of our litigation funding series, we consider the decision of the Victorian Supreme Court to award a group cost order (GCO). Although it is perhaps too early to be certain whether GCOs will work as the legislature intends (and they are currently only available in Victoria) there are a number...

In our latest article as part of our litigation funding series, we consider the decision of the Victorian Supreme Court to award a group cost order (GCO). Although it is perhaps too early to be certain whether GCOs will work as the legislature intends (and they are currently only available in Victoria) there are a number...

The regulation of litigation funding remains a hot topic in Australia.  In 2020 significant reform occurred with the Corporations Amendment (Litigation Funding) Regulations 2020 (Cth) (Regulation).  The Regulation required litigation funders to hold an Australian Financial Services Licence and be registered as a managed investment scheme for any class action.  It also subjected litigation funders.

The regulation of litigation funding remains a hot topic in Australia.  In 2020 significant reform occurred with the Corporations Amendment (Litigation Funding) Regulations 2020 (Cth) (Regulation).  The Regulation required litigation funders to hold an Australian Financial Services Licence and be registered as a managed investment scheme for any class action.  It also subjected litigation funders.

In case you missed it, below is a summary of recent posts from CPW.  Please feel free to reach out if you are interested in additional information on any of the developments covered. US Banking Regulators Issue Final Rule Regarding Data Incident Reporting – Consumer Privacy World Australia’s Online Privacy Bill and Privacy Act Discussion...

In the Australian Government’s first step towards enhancing and enforcing privacy compliance in Australia, the Attorney-General’s Department has released two publications regarding amendments to Australia’s privacy regime: An exposure draft introducing amendments to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (the Privacy Act), which will establish an online privacy code applicable to major online platforms and...

This report provides a snapshot of the US Executive Branch priorities via daily schedules and the prior day’s press releases. POTUS’ Schedule* 10:00 a.m. EDT – THE PRESIDENT delivers remarks before the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly | General Assembly Hall United Nations 12:00 p.m. EDT – THE PRESIDENT participates in a...

Status:  Clearance Acquirer:  Macquarie Group Limited (Australia) Acquired:  Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc. (US) Value:  US$1.7 billion Industry: Financial Services On December 2, 2020, Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc., a publicly traded (NYSE: WDR) U.S. based company providing investment management and wealth management services, entered into a merger agreement with Macquarie Management Holdings,...

This video discusses key changes to the Fair Work Act as they relate to casual employees in Australia. More detailed analysis from our team can be found here: https://bit.ly/3sejz8X

In the wake of a spate of high profile sexual assault and harassment allegations in recent weeks, the federal government has announced it will implement a suite of anti-harassment reforms in response to the Sex Discrimination Commissioner’s landmark RespectWork national inquiry report, which was released in March 2020. The RespectWork inquiry found that Australia’s current...

This year has introduced many a “new normal”.   In Australia there has been an increasing move by the Australian Federal Court to embrace references as a means of determining key contentious issues before trial – for example what is the date of insolvency.  This is particularly critical in the course of antecedent transaction proceedings, particularly...

In late September 2020, the federal government announced that it would be introducing changes to Australia’s Corporations Act (Act) and the most significant amendments to the corporate insolvency regimes in decades. The main objective is to help the small business sector deal with and overcome the economic, financial and trading challenges posed by the ongoing...

The Australian federal government has announced that the temporary changes it enacted in March to the Corporations Act concerning insolvent trading laws and the creditor’s statutory demand regime have been extended to 31 December 2020. The changes were due to expire on 25 September. Please see out alert for further information.

Our quick guide, “Preparing for the “New Normal” – Key Points for Australian Businesses to Consider” focuses on key issues for Australian businesses to consider in determining their viability as Australia continues to “unlock”.  This guide considers a range of issues, including: Cash flow and financing Supply and demand Employee considerations Operational costs Directors’ duties...

Our guide sets out how different jurisdictions are changing their Insolvency Laws to help alleviate additional pressures placed on businesses as a consequence of cash flow pressures caused by COVID-19. We have updated our guide to introduce a traffic light system to show the current status of these measures and to include further changes to...

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are often asked what clients should do if a business counterparty (such as a vendor, customer or other contract counterparty) is suffering distresses and may be contemplating, or be at risk of, falling into external administration. It is impossible to anticipate every potential scenario, but our note...