Yesterday, the Commerce Minister announced consultation on the government’s second phase of capital market reforms, focusing on issues such as director and issuer liability.  The minister’s announcement referred to concerns about the lack of depth in our capital markets with the result that the cost of capital is too high meaning that many businesses need […]

As possibly the last shoe to fall as a result of the demise of former NZX -listed company QEX Logistics Limited, QEX along with Jingjie Xue – who was its founder, director and CEO have been ordered to pay civil penalties $875k and $175k respectively.  Mr Xue has also been banned as a director of

An Australian Federal Court decision at the end of April, involving ASX Listed software business Nuix Limited, provides more lessons about the practical application of continuous disclosure obligations and earnings guidance. It also appears to provide some vital points of difference with some of the (frankly alarming) connotations of the decision in round 3 of

The media coverage, today, of the difficulties faced by the director of an SOE when seeking to discharge his duties as a director while juggling the demands of a conflict-of-interest management plan that was described as ‘substantial’ – highlights a difficulty being faced by a range of entities in the private as well as the

A recent, high profile, judgment from the UK’s top court has wider application than just standard-form contracts such as those that are a feature of the construction industry. Central to the decision in Providence Building Services Limited v Hexagon Housing Association Limited (2026) was the termination mechanism in a standard form (UK) construction industry contract.

A private member’s bill providing a stopgap measure which allows directors to use an alternative address, and not their home address, on the Companies Register was passed last night. The stopgap measure in the Companies (Address Information) Amendment Bill seems destined to be replaced by a (full) director identification number, similar to that used in

Last month, Radich J delivered a very long decision in what was obviously a keenly contested dispute affecting the Drylandcarbon joint venture. Ultimately, the judgment applies a number of well-known and long-established principles relating to the diversion (by a director) of a corporate opportunity for their own personal benefit.  But the background to this case

Branded as ‘commonsense changes’, the Government announced yesterday that it will make significant changes to the disclosure regime for climate reporting entities.  As a result, some commentators have said that this will reduce the number of climate reporting entities by two-thirds, from approx. 164 to 76. The press statement from the Minister of Commerce and

In another example of the in-house lawyer’s worst nightmare, the UK Court of Appeal has upheld the assertion of a binding contract on the basis of a series of informal messages via WhatsApp and email despite what appears to have been a clear (and shared) expectation that formal documentation was to follow. In DAZN Limited

At the end of last week, the High Court delivered its decision on the case stated proceeding brought by the FMA, seeking a High Court determination about the use, confirmation, and acceptance of ‘eligible investor certificates’ for ‘wholesale’ investments.  To recap, the ‘eligible investor’ route is one of the key hard-wired exceptions from the FMC