Herbert Smith Freehills review the Federal Court of Australia’s 2016 decision in WDR Delaware Corporation v Hydrox Holdings Pty Ltd [2016] FCA 1164, where the Federal Court held that a winding up application made in respect of a joint venture company should be stayed and the substantive underlying matters of dispute between the joint venture parties be referred to arbitration pursuant to the joint venture agreement. The authors note that the decision is broadly consistent with the approach taken by English, Hong Kong and Singapore courts in cases such as Fulham Football Club (1987) Ltd v Richards [2012] Ch 333, Re Quicksilver Glorious Sun JV Ltd (2014) 4 HKLRD 759 and Tomolgen Holdings Ltd v Silica Investments Ltd [2015] SFGA 57 (all of which were cited by the Court in this case).
Australian Federal Court Stays Winding Up Application To Allow Arbitration
