Corporate rescues - a comparative study of the law and procedure in Australia, Canada and England

PhDCorporate insolvency law reform in the mid 80's in the United Kingdom and the early 90's in Canada and Australia resulted in the introduction of new statutory regimes directed specifically towards facilitating the rescue of financially troubled companies or parts of their businesses. The Administration Order Procedure and Company Voluntary Arrangements in the U.K., Business Proposals in Canada and Company Voluntary Arrangements in Australia joined the ranks of Receivership under a Floating Charge, and the little used Statutory Compositions and Schemes of Arrangement. Thus, today it is usual to attempt to rescue or rehabilitate a company prior to subjecting it to a terminal insolvency regime. Since the procedures, in particular the new, seek common goals there is a great degree of similarity amongst them. This thesis begins by tracing the history of the law of corporate rescues and how the various aspects of a rescue developed from the mid nineteenth Century to the present day. It identifies several common aspects of a corporate rescue. Every aspect is conmion to at least two regimes. It then examines, in detail, the manner in which each aspect is dealt with under each procedure. This detailed analysis discloses important differences which, it is submitted, affect the relative success or failure of the procedures. It is examined whether or not each rescue regime addresses every aspect of a rescue efficiently and whether any procedure could benefit from the experiences of the others. In conclusion it is determined whether, in the light of available empirical evidence on the use these rescue procedures in Australia, Canada and England, each regime eventually achieves or has the potential to achieve the objective of a corporate rescue