is bolton insolvent, page-3

"His company Australian Style Investments has arguably been trading while insolvent from the moment it bought 77 million units in BrisConnections, since that purchase involved an obligation to pay $77 million on April 29 2009, that it was never going to be able to meet – that is, it was unable to meet its debts as and when they fell due."

The units are not a liability. They incur a liability. There is a big difference. So ASI is not insolvent according to Justice Robson. You can read the judgement here:

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/vic/VSC/2009/128.html

The judgement included this paragraph:

"224 Turning to the facts of this case, is there a present obligation on ASI to pay an instalment which may become payable on the happening of some future event? The obligation to pay an instalment is only imposed on those unit holders identified as being registered on 29 April 2009. No obligation arises out of being a unit holder as such. The obligation only arises if the person is a unit holder on a certain day. Being a unit holder does not by itself give rise to any contingent liability to pay any instalment. The liability is not sourced from the fact that some months earlier before the instalment date the person held units. The liability is solely sourced from the person being a unit holder on the instalment day."

There hasn't been much mention of this in the press, a fact which concerns me. Nor is there much mention of the trust offering to freely acquire units.

Something smells rotten. A point you might wish to consider: If you are not the registered holder on 29/04/2009, you are not liable.