Companies Act 2014

F371[Power to deal with charged property etc.

558ZV

558ZV. (1) Where, on an application by the process adviser appointed in respect of an eligible company, the relevant court is satisfied that—

(a) the disposal (with or without other assets) of any property of the eligible company which is subject to a security which, as created, was a floating charge, or

(b) the exercise by the process adviser of his or her powers in relation to such property,

would be likely to facilitate the survival of the whole or any part of the eligible company as a going concern, the relevant court may by order authorise the process adviser to dispose of the property, or exercise his or her powers in relation to it, as the case may be, as if it were not subject to the security.

(2) Where, on an application by the process adviser appointed in respect of an eligible company, the relevant court is satisfied that the disposal (with or without other assets) of—

(a) any property of the eligible company subject to a security other than a security to which subsection (1) applies, or

(b) any goods in the possession of the eligible company under a hire-purchase agreement,

would be likely to facilitate the survival of the whole or any part of the eligible company as a going concern, the relevant court may by order authorise the process adviser to dispose of the property as if it were not subject to the security or to dispose of the goods as if all rights of the owner under the hire-purchase agreement were vested in the company.

(3) Where property is disposed of under subsection (1), the holder of the security shall have the same priority in respect of any property of the eligible company directly or indirectly representing the property disposed of as he or she would have had in respect of the property subject to the security.

(4) An order under subsection (2) shall include a condition that—

(a) the net proceeds of the disposal of the property or goods concerned, and

(b) where those proceeds are less than such amount as may be determined by the relevant court to be the net amount which would be realised on a sale of the property or goods concerned in the open market by a willing vendor, such sums as may be required to make good the deficiency,

shall be applied towards discharging the sums secured by the security or payable under the hire-purchase agreement.

(5) Where a condition imposed in pursuance of subsection (4) relates to 2 or more securities, that condition operates to require the net proceeds of the disposal and, where paragraph (b) of that subsection applies, the sums mentioned in that paragraph to be applied towards discharging the sums secured by those securities in the order of their priorities.

(6) A certified copy of an order under subsection (1) or (2) in relation to a security shall, within 7 days after the date of the making of the order, be delivered by the process adviser to the Registrar.

(7) If the process adviser, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with subsection (6), he or she shall be guilty of a category 4 offence.

(8) References in this section to a hire-purchase agreement include references to—

(a) a conditional sale agreement;

(b) a retention of title agreement; and

(c) an agreement for the bailment of goods which is capable of subsisting for more than 3 months.]

Annotations

Amendments:

F371

Inserted (7.12.2021) by Companies (Rescue Process for Small and Micro Companies) Act 2021 (30/2021), s. 3, S.I. No. 673 of 2021.