Re Rennie Produce (Aust) Pty Ltd (in Liquidation in Australia)

HCMP 1640/2016

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

MISCELLANEOUS PROCEEDINGS NO 1640 OF 2016

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D E C I S I O N

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1.I have before me an ex-parte application for recognition and assistance by the Joint and Several Official Liquidators of Rennie Produce (Aust) Pty Ltd which is in liquidation in Australia.

2.The application is made pursuant to a letter of request issued by Mr Justice Middleton of the Federal Court of Australia dated 29 April 2016. In addition a separate application is made for production of documents by two banks in Hong Kong.

3.As I note in my decision in Re Centaur Litigation SPC (In Liquidation), HCMP 3389/2015 (unreported, 10 March 2016), applications of this sort have become increasingly common in recent years.  In the earlier decision I refer briefly to the principles by reference to which the Hong Kong Companies Court deals with such applications and I set out in an appendix to the decision the order for recognition and assistance that was made in that case.

4.I will make an order in the same terms in respect of the present application.  I would note for the benefit of practitioners that it is my intention that this form of order becomes the standard order to be made by this court.  Having said that, over time I anticipate that it may be possible to refine its provisions and practitioners should not feel bound to use precisely the same language if they consider that amendments to it are appropriate.

5.I will also make orders for the production of documents by the two banks concerned.  Also for the benefit of practitioners there is, appended to this short decision, the substantive terms of the production orders that have been made in order that they can see the type of order that the court is willing to make pursuant to a letter of request for assistance by way of production by the court of a jurisdiction whose own insolvency regime contains provisions substantially similar to our section 221 of the Companies (Winding Up and Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance (Cap 32).

6.The justification for granting such an order is explained more fully in my decision in The Joint Official Liquidators of A Co [2014] 4 HKLRD 374.

Mr James Wood, solicitor advocate of Lipman Karas, for the applicant

Annexure

1. The Respondent produce copies of the following documents to the Applicants’ Solicitors by Monday, 19 September 2016:

a. Documents identifying the account holders, contact details, contact persons, addresses and signatories, of the account listed in Schedule 1 [not included in this Decision], including copies of the signatures of each of the signatories to that account.

b. Documents identifying any accounts held by X in the name of or to the benefit of the persons or entities in Schedule 2 [not included in this Decision], including documents identifying the account numbers, account names, account holders, contact details, contact persons, addresses and signatories of each such account including copies of the signatures of each of the signatories to those accounts.

c. Statements or other documents recording or evidencing the movement of funds into and out of the account listed in Schedule 1 and any other accounts held in the name of or to the benefit of any of the persons listed in Schedule 2, for the period from 1 to 31 March 2013.

2. The Respondent keep the documents sought in paragraph 1 in safe custody until copies of the documents are produced to the Applicants’ Solicitors.

3. There be liberty to apply by letter to the Clerk of the Honourable Mr Justice Harris.

4. The Applicants pay the reasonable photocopying costs of the Respondent for the production of the documents sought in paragraph 1, at a rate of no more than HK$7 per page.

Dated the 26^th day of August 2016