GENERAL 387. Service of documents on company

Question 1

General

387. Service of documents on company

Answer 1

[387.01] Section 387 provides that a document may be served on a company by leaving it at, or sending it by registered post to, the registered office of the company. Whether service at any other address of the company constitutes good service depends on the facts of the case, and any irregularity in the registered address may be cured by s 392 if the procedural irregularity did not cause substantial injustice to the party receiving the document: see s 391.

Question 2

Service of the statutory demand under s 254(2)(a) at registered address

Answer 2

[387.02] Service at the registered company is good even if the company has moved without informing the Registry of Companies: Re Shangri-la Cruise Pte Ltd [1990] 2 SLR(R) 97; [1990] SGHC 62, HC. A statutory demand for payment that was not served at its registered office but somewhere else rendered it irregular and defective and the irregularity and defect cannot be cured: Pac Asian Services Pte Ltd v European Asian Bank AG [1989] 3 MLJ 385, CA. The minority shareholder opposed the majority shareholder’s petition to wind up the subsidiary on the ground that the change of registered address which was notified to the Registry of Companies was not properly authorised by the board but by a single director of the subsidiary who also controlled the holding company and hence, the service being invalid was upheld