Ruling notes importance of production, examinations in Australian insolvency law
Australia’s Federal Court deemed it appropriate to allow a liquidator to serve documents on a company director in Singapore upon finding that examinations requiring attendance and the production of books were long-standing and important provisions of Australian insolvency law.
In Bredenkamp (Liquidator), in the matter of Ultima United Limited (in liq) [2025] FCA 1350, an order dated 13 April 2023 wound up a public company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange based on insolvency under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). In August 2023, the ASX delisted the company.
The plaintiff liquidator launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the company’s capital raising in 2021, the deposit account for the funds raised, and the accuracy of the company's share register.
The liquidator held funds that he could not disperse until the resolution of issues regarding the share register. The liquidator considered resorting to the overseas service of the orders and summons for examination on a company director whose address was in Singapore.
Pending the Federal Court’s grant of leave for overseas service, the liquidator applied to a registrar for service in Singapore under r 10.64 of the Federal Court Rules. The liquidator provided the following documents in English:
The liquidator sought service in a manner aligning with the:
Last 3 October, the Federal Court registrar issued orders under s 596A of the Corporations Act providing for the public examination of four directors involved in the company’s examinable affairs.
Summonses for examination, issued on 6 October, required each director to attend for examination and produce the relevant documents.
Under r 10.44 of the Federal Court Rules, the Federal Court of Australia granted the plaintiff leave to serve these documents to require the production of documents and attendance for examination under s 596A of the Corporations Act on the director outside Australia, in line with the laws in Singapore and the Hague Convention:
The court ruled that the liquidator should benefit from the registrar’s orders, which had already deemed it appropriate to issue summons. The court saw nothing contentious in the manner of service proposed by the liquidator.
Under r 10.46 of the Federal Court Rules, the court considered it appropriate to effect service in accordance with any applicable laws of Singapore and the Hague Convention, given that Singapore became a signatory on 1 December 2023.
