News
Can A Company Provide Financial Assistance To A Person To Acquire Shares In The Company?
The High Court of Australia in Connective Services Pty Ltd v Slea Pty Ltd [2019] HCA 33 was concerned with two shareholders who used their combined voting power to initiate proceedings in the name of a group of companies against a third shareholder who proposed to sell his interest, in contravention of a pre-emptive rights provision of the companies’ constitution. In upholding the Court of Appeal’s decision to dismiss the proceeding against the third shareholder, the High Court illustrated the circumstances in which financial assistance by a company to a shareholder will be prohibited by section 260A of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth).
Victoria Airs Laws To Chase “Dodgy Builders” For Cladding Issues
Victoria has announced new laws allowing the state government to chase builders for the cost of cladding rectification, prompting the main industry body, the Victorian Building Authority, to fume that it is being singled out for a problem caused by many players, including the government.
Tenant and Landlord Disputes: Unusable Premises
The recent Supreme Court of Victoria decision in Brondolino v Surf Coast Smash Masters Pty Ltd [2019] VSC 505 provides an excellent overview of the difference between ‘possession’ and ‘occupancy’, and on the calculation of compensation due and payable to a Tenant who is unable to use leased premises for the specified purpose in the context of the Retail Leases Act 2003 (Vic).