Corporates

McGrathNicol gets its way on 3rd Forum appointee

McGrathNicol Partner Kathy Sozou. Image McGrathNicol. Federal Court judge Michael Lee might have refused Westpac’s bid to have a third McGrathNicol partner appointed as a provisional liquidator to three Forum corporate entities on the basis that with charge out rates of $847 per hour two is sufficient, but as we all know, resistance is futile. When creditors of the 25 or so Forum group companies…


Chan & Naylor’s insolvency bros depart

iNO Priority RRI Advisory’s Trajan “John” Kukulovski. RRI Advisory’s Liam Bellamy. Noses appear to be out of joint in the Chan & Naylor family, with iNO learning that the mid-tier accountancy is looking elsewhere for insolvency services after its existing go to liquidators – Liam Bellamy and Trajan “John” Kukulovski – parted company with Chan & Naylor principals Ed Chan and Peter Ristevski. The rumours…


Ex VAs deprived of indemnity for adverse costs

Hall Chadwick’s Richard Albarran. Hall Chadwick’s Richard Lawrence. A judge has added a lick of Bitrex to the unpalatable pill Richard Albarran and Richard Lawrence are being forced to stomach after creditors removed them as voluntary administers (VAs) of Bluechain Pty Ltd. Last Thursday Justice Jim Delaney of the Supreme Court of Victoria ordered that the Hall Chadwick pair pay the costs of an application…


Westpac monsters Forum VAs as Papas tests positive

Alleged fraudster Bill Papas is COVID positive and languishing in Athens a court heard yesterday, which might explain why Westpac Bank – which would love to ask the Forum Group founder about its missing $300 million – spent much of the afternoon monstering Domenic Calabretta and two of his Mackay Goodwin colleagues in regard to their role as voluntary administrators (VA) of 30 Forum Group entities.


Low ball partner rate not enough to win Forum gig

McGrathNicol chairman Jason Preston. McGrathNicol partner Jason Ireland. It’s likely to be one of the highest profile appointments of 2021 so it was no surprise that when Westpac approached the Federal Court last week seeking to have provisional liquidators appointed to Forum Finance Pty Limited (Forum), Justice Michael Lee found himself presented with aspiring appointees from two of Australia’s most prominent insolvency firms. Westpac wanted…


Liquidator hands failed mining ambitions to old boss

O’Brien Palmer’s Daniel Frisken. (Image: O’Brien Palmer) Hall Chadwick partner Sule Arnautovic. (Image: Hall Chadwick) Everybody wants to be an iron ore magnate these days but liquidator Daniel Frisken’s foray into the mining and minerals game has come unstuck with the placing into voluntary administration (VA) of ICA Mining, a company which had until recently purported to be advancing the resurrection of the old Peko…


VAs eleventh hour bid to adjourn too long a shot

Accepting an appointment as a voluntary administrator (VA) late on a Friday knowing you’ll have to apply to adjourn a winding up application being heard the following Monday might be considered more than usually ambitious. Jirsch Sutherland’s Trent Devine, Bradd Morelli and Andrew Spring however had good reason to feel confident last week when they agreed to take on ASX-listed plastics-to-fuels developer Integrated Green Energy…


Insurer funds IP’s legals in defence and cross claim

BRI Ferrier’s David Coyne. It’s not every day a liquidator gets their legal expenses for both the defence of a claim and pursuit of a cross-claim paid for by the applicant and respondent on the other side of the dispute, but BRI Ferrier Victoria boss David Coyne currently occupies this happy place, courtesy of QBE. The uncommon state of affairs came to iNO’s attention whilst…


SBS – brought to you by Telstra

McGrathNicol’s Barry Kogan. McGrathNicol’s Jonathan Henry You wouldn’t have known it these last few months but the screening of programs on Australia’s peak multicultural and multilingual television broadcaster has been hanging by a thread whose integrity has been maintained by the continuing efforts of Barry Kogan, Jon Henry and their team at McGrathNicol, the assiduous application of S 447A in the courts and an $850,000…


Liquidator alleged to have knowingly misled court

Liquidator Gavin Moss outside the NSW Supreme Court this week. Never has iNO regretted scheduling a dental appointment more than when an hour of root canal on Wednesday morning led to us missing the moment liquidator Gavin Moss was alleged to have knowingly misled a court. Stoically endured and lavishly anaesthetised discomfort aside, the making of this allegation before NSW Supreme Court judge Kate Williams…