Butterworths Hong Kong Company Law Handbook - 26th Edition

The Butterworths Hong Kong Company Law Handbook - 26th Edition aims to deal with the intricacies of the Companies Ordinance (Cap 622) in an easily accessible form. This Handbook reproduces the text of the Ordinance as currently in force along with section by section annotations and examines the significant judicial decisions and rules of court. The annotations also provide definitions of words and phrases, discussions on practical aspects and contentious issues with reference to each section and other authoritative materials including cross-jurisdictional references.

Readers may wish to refer to the Butterworths Hong Kong Company Law (Winding-Up and Miscellaneous Provisions) Handbook, which is a complementary text containing the remaining Parts from the "old Companies Ordinance" (Cap 32) that have not been repealed.

As this series has been cited with authority in over one hundred court cases in the Hong Kong Court of First Instance, Court of Appeal and Court of Final Appeal, this Handbook will no doubt be an invaluable source of information for practitioners, legal advisers, company secretaries, students and anyone interested in the laws governing companies in Hong Kong.

The 26th edition includes new material, cases and commentary on various sections of Cap.622. Some of the key updates include :

• New cases, including on reduction of capital under the solvency statement procedure (Fok Lai Lor Nora v Fok Ying Tung Ming Yuan Development Co Ltd [2023] 5 HKC 489), shareholder remedies (Sanju Environmental Protection (Hong Kong) Ltd v Wang Lishan [2023] 2 HKLRD 242; Chan Kam Yau v Chan Hui Ki Tup [2023] HKCFI 3367), and schemes of arrangements (Re Sunac China Holdings Ltd [2024] 1 HKC 172, Re North Mining Shares Co Ltd [2023] HKCFI 2439);
• Commencement of the final phase (Phase 3) of the New Inspection Regime concerning public access to the Companies Register, namely commencement of sections 47, 49, 50, 51 and 52 (and full commencement of the Companies (Residential Addresses and Identification Numbers) Regulation), dealing with applications to the Registrar of Companies to withhold from inspection full ID numbers and residential addresses of directors and others in documents otherwise available for public inspection on the Companies Register;
• Amendments made by the Companies (Amendment) Ordinance 2023 (No. 2 of 2023), dealing with general meetings being held using virtual meeting technology (new section 583A, and amendments to sections 547 and 576, amongst other provisions); and
• New Practice Directions, including PD3.4 (Case Management for Petitions under Section 724 of the Companies Ordinance) and PD3.7 (Urgent Applications to the Companies Judge).