We would like to highlight several cases in this October issue of ONC Corporate Disputes and Insolvency Quarterly.

Of particular interest to insolvency practitioners would be the Hong Kong case Re Leung Yat Tung HCB 2019/2000. In this case, the court granted application for priority of payment to funding creditor pursuant to section 38(5B) of the Bankruptcy Ordinance, in recognition of the considerable risk the funding creditor has assumed and the substantial benefits reaped by the bankruptcy estate. Another interesting case is Joseph Ghossoub v Team Y&R Holdings Hong Kong Ltd and Others HCMP 1074/2015, in which the court found an exclusive jurisdiction clause to be inoperative, to the extent that it fetters the shareholder’s statutory right to present an unfair prejudice petition. In the English decision of Fieldfisher LLP v Pennyfeathers Limited [2016] EWHC 566 (Ch), the English High Court dismissed a creditor’s application for administration order, as the disputed debt was subject to arbitration. In doing so, the court considered that it should, save in wholly exceptional circumstances, exercise its discretion in an application for winding up / administration consistently with the legislative policy embodied in the Arbitration Act. Last but not least, in the Singaporean case of Koh Keng Chew and others v Liew Kit Fah and others [2016] SGHC 140, the High Court of Singapore was faced with a rare application by the minority to buy out the majority. In dismissing the application, the court held that a minority buyout order will only be made where majority shareholders are guilty of egregious conduct which renders them unfit to exercise control of the company.

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