Corporate trustees, priority creditors and PPSA registrations: one case, three insolvency issues

What you need to know

• In a decision handed down on 23 March 2017, the Supreme Court of Victoria has gone some way to solidify a consistent trend in three important insolvency principles, the first of which is that assets of a corporate trustee are not 'property' of the company and are therefore not subject to the priority regime under the Corporations Act (Cth) 2001 (Corporations Act).
• The second is that timing is critical when determining whether property constitutes a circulating security interest caught by section 433 of the Corporations Act.
• The third is that a security interest arises under the Personal Property Securities Act (Cth) 2009 (PPSA) (for the purposes of registration) when the first delivery of retention of title stock occurs even where subsequent invoices restate the terms and conditions of delivery.