Receivership

If a company is in financial difficulty, a secured creditor or the court may put the company into receivership.

Who is a creditor?

You are a creditor of a company if the company owes you money. Usually, a creditor is owed money because they have provided goods or services, or made loans to the company.

An employee owed money for unpaid wages and other entitlements is a creditor.

A person who may be owed money by the company if a certain event occurs (e.g. if they succeed in a legal claim against the company) is also a creditor, and is sometimes referred to as a 'contingent' creditor.

There are generally two categories of creditor: secured and unsecured.

A secured creditor is someone who has a 'charge', such as a mortgage, over some or all of the company's assets, to secure a debt owed by the company. Lenders usually require a charge over company assets when they provide a loan. Charges over many types of assets are required to be registered with ASIC. You can find out if a company has a registered charge from ASIC's Companies Register and obtain a copy of the registered charge, on payment of the relevant fee.

An unsecured creditor is a creditor who does not have a charge over the company's assets.

Employees are a special class of unsecured creditors. In a receivership, in certain circumstances, some of their outstanding entitlements are paid in priority to the debt of the secured creditor.

The purpose of receivership

A company goes into receivership when an independent and suitably qualified person (the receiver) is appointed by a secured creditor, or in special circumstances by the court, to take control of some or all of the company's assets. (Court receiverships are not covered in this information sheet.)

The charge, or security, held by the secured creditor under which the appointment of a receiver is made may comprise:

• a fixed charge over particular assets of the company (e.g. land, plant and equipment), and/or
• a floating charge over assets that are used and disposed of in the course of normal trading operations (e.g. debtors, cash and stock).

The powers of the receiver are set out in the charge document and the Corporations Act 2001 (Corporations Act).

If a receiver has, under the terms of their appointment, the power to manage the company's affairs, they are known as a receiver and manager.

It is possible for a company in receivership to also be in provisional liquidation, liquidation, voluntary administration or subject to a deed of company arrangement.

The receiver's role

The receiver's role is to:

• collect and sell enough of the charged assets to repay the debt owed to the secured creditor (this may include selling assets or the company's business)
• pay out the money collected in the order required by law, and
• report to ASIC any possible offences or other irregular matters they come across.

The receiver's primary duty is to the company's secured creditor. The main duty owed to unsecured creditors is an obligation to take reasonable care to sell charged property for not less than its market value or, if there is no market value, the best price reasonably obtainable. A receiver also has the same general duties as a company director.

The receiver has no obligation to report to unsecured creditors about the receivership, either by calling a meeting or in writing. However, the receiver will usually write to all of the company's suppliers to inform them of their appointment. Unsecured creditors are not entitled to see the receiver's reports to the secured creditor.

A detailed list of the receiver's receipts and payments for the receivership must be lodged with ASIC every six months. Copies of these detailed lists of receipts and payments may be obtained from any ASIC Business Centre, on payment of the relevant fee.

Distribution of money

The most common way a receiver will obtain money from the assets they are appointed over is to sell them. In the case of a company's business, the receiver may continue to trade the business until they sell it as a going concern.

The money from the realisation of assets must be distributed as follows:

• money from the sale of fixed charge assets is paid to the secured creditor after the costs and fees of the receiver in collecting this money have been paid, and
• money from the sale of floating charge assets is paid out as follows: first, the receiver's costs and fees in collecting this money; second, certain priority claims, including employee entitlements (if the liability for these hasn't been transferred to a new owner); and, third, repayment of the secured creditor's debt.

In both cases, any funds left over are paid to the company or its other external administrator, if one has been appointed.

If the receiver is appointed under a security comprising both fixed and floating charges, which is common, there will be costs and fees of the receivership that cannot be directly allocated to realising the fixed or floating charge assets. These costs are allocated in proportion to the fixed and floating realisation amounts.

If employee entitlements are to be paid by the receiver under a floating charge, the payments must be made in the following order:

• outstanding wages and superannuation
• outstanding leave of absence (including annual leave, sick leave, where applicable, and long service leave), and
• retrenchment pay.

Each class of entitlement is paid in full before the next class is paid. If there are insufficient funds to pay a class in full, the available funds are paid on a pro rata basis (and the next class or classes will be paid nothing).

The receiver has no obligation to pay any other unsecured creditors for outstanding pre-appointment debts.

Other implications for unsecured creditors

Legal action may be commenced or continued against the company despite the appointment of a receiver. This means that an unsecured creditor can apply to the court to have the company put into liquidation on the basis of an unpaid debt. Reasons you might wish to do this, particularly if the company owes you a large amount, include:

• an expectation that there will be money or property left over after realisation of the charged assets and payments by the receiver
• possible recoveries that may be available to a liquidator for the benefit of unsecured creditors, which are not available to a receiver
• a desire for a liquidator to investigate potential offences by those associated with the company
• the ability of the liquidator to review the validity of the appointment of the receiver and of the charge, and to monitor the progress of the receivership

Directors and receivership

Receivership does not affect the legal existence of the company. The directors continue to hold office, but their powers depend on the powers of the receiver and the extent of the assets over which the receiver is appointed.

Control of the charged property, which often includes the company's business, is taken away from the directors.

Directors must provide the receiver with a report about the company's affairs and must allow the receiver access to books and records relating to the charged property.

Source: ASIC, Receivership: a guide for creditors. Link Read the full ASIC guide.