Re Bosnjak Holdings Pty Ltd

In the matter of Bosnjak Holdings Pty Ltd, the applicants sought an order from the Court to allow for the remuneration of administrators to be fixed before the second meeting of creditors. The dispute arose from the need to establish remuneration for the administrators of several companies in administration, as the traditional process of fixing fees at the second creditors' meeting was deemed impractical due to the scale and complexity of the administration. The Court had to determine whether there was a mechanism within the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) that allowed for the remuneration of administrators to be fixed before the second meeting of creditors, and if not, whether the Court had the authority to make an order to facilitate this.

The Court considered the statutory framework and found that the Act only provided for the fixing of fees at the second meeting, which was not practical for large-scale administrations. Finkelstein J's reasoning in Stockford highlighted that fees would be fixed retrospectively, which was not suitable for the scale of the current administration. The Court also noted that while the Act allowed for the Court to fix remuneration under certain circumstances, it was not the ideal body to make such a complex and commercially sensitive decision. The Court therefore exercised its power under s 447A of the Act to make an order that allowed for the remuneration to be fixed prior to the second creditors' meeting. The order specified that the remuneration would be fixed by a resolution of the committee of creditors after they had been given at least seven days' notice of the amount claimed by the administrators.

The Court's decision was based on the necessity to accommodate the unique circumstances of the administration and to avoid the impracticality of fixing fees retrospectively. The order allowed for the administration to proceed efficiently and ensured that the administrators were compensated in a timely manner. The Court also ordered that the costs of the application be costs in the administration, and set a date for further proceedings.