The former president of Yemen once described ruling the strife-torn Arab nation as like “dancing on the heads of snakes”. This week Ali Abdullah Saleh was assassinated by his former allies, who before becoming false friends of convenience had been the most reliable of enemies. Saleh’s fate got SiN wondering whether Jamieson Louttit may have developed a few dance steps of his own since last month when…
SiN hears Nick Combis and his former colleague at Vincents Peter Dinoris might be on the verge of a settlement with Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, which has been pressing for a judicial inquiry into their conduct as Trustees of the personal insolvency agreements (PIA) proffered by Bartercard co-founder and multi-millionaire Brian Hall. The Trustees’ statement of contentions shows that irrespective of what the bank thinks of how they…
What’s to be made of this move by PPB founder Steve Parbery and Ex-McGrathNicol veteran Chris Honey to join the board of Regal Funds Management as the hedge fund’s co-founder Andrew King steps down after 13 years? It’s no secret that the past few years have been rocky for Regal. King’s brother Phil, who remains as chief investment officer, was quizzed in court by ASIC back in…
What would Australia’s great bush bard make of the press pack mayhem outside and inside the Banjo Patterson room on Level three of Sydney’s Marriott Hotel yesterday? Perhaps the great man might want a quiet word with Ten Network Holding’s administrator Mark Korda – a man known more for his numerical eloquence – and ask him how a bloody accountant can have cameramen and women, radio…
The hearing into the adequacy of the disclosures contained in KordaMentha’s much-maligned report to the creditors of TEN Network Holdings (TNH) was always going to be run with extreme diligence by Supreme Court Justice Ashley Black. This is not only because SiN suspects that Justice Black conducts every hearing with extreme diligence but because TNH creditors are scheduled to vote on a momentous resolution to…
Mark Korda is probably less than delighted that the recent triumph his co-owned firm engineered via the sale of Arrium has been largely neutered, obscured and in terms of publicity trounced by the TEN Network Holdings (TEN) imbroglio but it didn’t show yesterday, even when the prickly and provocative John Atanaskovic made a seemingly amicable overture. Of course in a room packed with lawyers and journalists, it pays to keep fists…
First it was the DIRRI. Then the supplementary DIRRI. And now it’s the report to creditors. When it comes to TEN Network Holdings, voluntary administrators KordaMentha can scarcely issue a document that isn’t analysed by TEN’s unsuccessful bidders in the hope that some perceived misstep, omission or flaw will deliver the opportunity they need to reverse the consequences of their own miscalculation. This week we’ve seen…
A critical element of the Network TEN – CBS transaction being engineered by voluntary administrators (VAs) KordaMentha looks set to be challenged, a court heard this week. On Thursday, barrister Ian Jackman told Justice Brigitte Markovic that “other parties are likely to appear and may well oppose” the application by the VAs to transfer shares controlled by TEN’s three billionaire shareholders to the American entertainment behemoth. Might two of the three – Lachlan Murdoch and…
It’s a big few days coming up for KordaMentha with some rapid leaps in the Ten administration possible following receiver PPB’s sale of the network to CBS and the official handover of Arrium taking place at week’s end. This afternoon lawyers for Mark Korda, Jenny Nettleton and Jarrod Villani are due to front the Federal Court in Sydney seeking approval to pay out the secured creditors of the Ten…
Stigma shmigma. Who said bankruptcy permanently stained a person with the irredeemable taint of debtor’s shame? SiN has come across a practitioner whose experience more than validates the redemptive power of personal insolvency. Last week Jirsch Sutherland announced that business director Rebecca Hindson had been appointed manager of the firm’s new Wollongong office. In a press release dated August 16 we learn that Hindson – an Illawarra local –…