[jahewson]

No a company cannot begin winding up without reaching an agreement with its creditors - the winding up process is a de-facto admission of insolvency and the company needs to declare bankruptcy and the creditors get first dibs on the assets.

It’s nothing like a layoff. For example, imagine that you are a supplier to company A and now your contract is both unpaid and cancelled and you’re going to have to lay off some of your own staff. Do you recover the contract money from company A, to give your staff severance? Or can company A stiff you and use it to give their own staff severance? (No, they can’t.)