Companies (Amendment) (No. 2) Act, 1999

Amendment of section 18 of Act of 1990.

22.—Section 18 of the Act of 1990 is hereby amended—

(a) by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (1):

“(1) An examiner shall—

(a) as soon as practicable after he is appointed, formulate proposals for a compromise or scheme of arrangement in relation to the company concerned,

(b) without prejudice to any other provision of this Act, carry out such other duties as the court may direct him to carry out.”,

(b) in subsection (2), by the deletion of all the words from “to consider such proposals” to the end of that subsection and the substitution of the following:

“for the purpose of section 23 and shall report on those proposals to the court, within 35 days of his appointment or such longer period as the court may allow, in accordance with section 19.”,

(c) in subsection (3), by the substitution of “70 days” for “three months”,

(d) by the substitution of the following subsections for subsections (5) and (6):

“(5) The examiner shall supply a copy of his report under this section—

(a) to the company concerned on the same day as he causes the report to be delivered to the office of the court, and

(b) to any interested party on written application being made to him in that behalf.

(6) The examiner shall, as soon as may be after it is prepared, supply a copy of his report under this section to—

(a) if the company concerned is a company referred to in paragraph (a) of section 3(2), the Minister, or

(b) if the company concerned is a company referred to in paragraph (b) or (c) of section 3(2), the Central Bank.

(7) If the court, on application to it in that behalf, directs that that supply may be the subject of such omission, there may be omitted from any copy of the report supplied under subsection (5)(b) to an interested party such parts of it as are specified in the direction of the court.

(8) The court may, in particular, on such an application, direct that there may be omitted from such a supply of a copy of the report any information the inclusion of which in such a copy would be likely to prejudice the survival of the company or the whole or any part of its undertaking as a going concern.

(9) If the examiner is not able to enter into an agreement with the interested parties and any other persons concerned in the matter or formulate proposals for a compromise or scheme of arrangement in relation to the company concerned, he may apply to the court for the grant of directions in the matter and the court may, on such application, give such directions or make such order as it deems fit, including, if it considers it just and equitable to do so, an order for the winding-up of the company.”,

and the said subsections (2) and (3), as so amended, are set out in paragraphs 1 and 2, respectively, of the Table to this section.

TABLE

1. (2) Notwithstanding any provision of the Companies Acts relating to notice of general meetings, (but subject to notice of not less than 3 days in any case) the examiner shall convene and preside at such meetings of members and creditors as he thinks proper, for the purpose of section 23 and shall report on those proposals to the court, within 35 days of his appointment or such longer period as the court may allow, in accordance with section 19.

2. (3) Where, on the application of the examiner, the court is satisfied that the examiner would be unable to report to the court within the period of 70 days referred to in section 5(1) but that he would be able to make a report if that period were extended, the court may by order extend that period by not more than 30 days to enable him to do so.