Where liquidators sell assets subject to competing proprietary interests (here, growers' interests and bank securities over managed investment scheme assets), the apportionment of sale proceeds must be determined by established principles of law and equity — specifically, by reference to the proportionate value of the rights given up by each interest holder — not by bargaining power or notions of fairness. Liquidators are not justified in accepting an offer from one class of interest holders that does not reflect a principled determination of the other class's proprietary interests. The appropriate mechanism is to hold sale proceeds on trust pending judicial determination of the competing claims.
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