Aston Chace’s Ian Niccol. Aston Chace’s Vincent Pirina. A court has heard that the coffers of failed online travel agency Fly365 were “flush with cash” only days before the company was placed into liquidation, plunging the travel plans of thousands into chaos and leaving creditors chasing up to $30 million in debts. The revelations emerged during an ex-parte application in the Federal Court yesterday brought…
Hall Chadwick’s Richard Albarran. Hall Chadwick’s Blair Pleash. We’re sure Vannin Capital is a successful player in the oft-times lucrative litigation funding space but two insolvency-based bets it’s made in Queensland have proved troublesome. Little mystery can attach to why bankrolling the general purpose liquidators (GPLs) of Queensland Nickel in litigation involving the company’s former director Clive Palmer hasn’t gone to plan. Palmer could probably…
BRI Ferrier’s James Koutsokos. BRI Ferrier’s David Coyne. BRI Ferrier’s James Koutsoukos and David Coyne have extracted some hard won joy from the Supreme Court of Victoria in their ongoing battle with a Japanese beverage can manufacturer over remuneration. In Re Barokes Pty Ltd (in liq) [2020] VSC 555 Associate Justice of Victoria’s Supreme Court Julian Hetyey this week sided with the liquidators in their…
Receiver David Whyte. FTI Consulting’s John Park. Who would’ve thought insolvency might be seen to resemble Socialism, at least as it was characterised by the late Baroness Thatcher when alluding to collectivism’s fatal fiscal flaw? Not iNO that’s for sure. But In LM Investment Management Ltd (receiver apptd) (in liq) v Drake & Ors [2020] QSC 265 (28 August 2020) Justice Peter Callaghan of the…
Grant Thornton’s Matt Byrnes. Grant Thornton’s Phil Campbell-Wilson. Having replaced Jirsch Sutherland’s Malcolm Howell as liquidators of AXF Group, Grant Thornton duo Matt Byrnes and Phil Campbell-Wilson now have the job of negotiating AXF Group’s related party labyrinth, and that’s without considering the attitude of Howell’s out-of-pocket backers, Claims Funding Australia (CFA). According to Howell’s last report to creditors dated August 4, the Maurice Blackburn-backed…
Last week iNO reported on the recent ousting of Jirsch Sutherland partner Malcolm Howell as liquidator of AXF Group. New information subsequently to hand sheds further light on how this potentially lucrative appointment was lost, and how Howell’s replacements, Matt Byrnes and Phil Campbell-Wilson of Grant Thornton, might avoid the same fate. In a letter to Howell’s lawyers, Landers & Rogers, dated May 11, the…
Grant Thornton’s Phil Campbell-Wilson. Grant Thornton’s Matt Byrnes. Jirsch Sutherland partner Malcolm Howell has branded his removal as liquidator of AFX Group Proprietary Limited “a blatant abuse of the new insolvency laws” after he was replaced at a meeting of creditors last Friday by Grant Thornton’s Matt Byrnes and Phil Campbell-Wilson. The meeting had been convened in accordance with ss 90-15(1) and 90-21(2) of the…
With its connections to Knox Grammar and the Baptist Church high profile building industry failure Clifford Constructions was always going to present added complications for whichever liquidators won the appointment, and that’s without the further complication of one of the liquidator’s brother’s links to the referrer. The link and the potential for conflict it creates is disclosed in the Declaration of Independence, Relevant Relationships and…
Cullen Group Australia Liquidator Michael Caspaney. Menzies Advisory’s Michael Caspaney must have days when he wonders if providing that consent to act as replacement liquidator on Cullen Group Australia Pty Ltd (CGA) almost four years go was a good idea, and iNO suspects that another such day approaches. Caspaney has been at odds with members of CGA’s Committee of Inspection (COI) and the general pool…
KPMG’s Will Colwell. The liquidators of the failed Octaviar Group have been forced to seek court approval for remuneration dating back to 2018 after falling out spectacularly with the Octaviar Committee of Inspection (COI). Bill Fletcher of Bentleys and Kate Barnet of Olvera Advisors applied in March this year for orders approving $358,731.85 (plus GST) in remuneration for work done from 1 July 2018 to…