There’s nothing like a review of remuneration, as ordered by Justice Paul “Proportionality” Brereton, to cull the swagger from an IP’s stride and this week it was Mackay Goodwin’s Domenic Calabretta and Grahame Ward stepping carefully as court was convened. In the matter of Securimax the pair have been on eggshells since August 2017 when Justice Brereton concluded that if administrators get 66 per cent of the…
The Department of Employment’s FEG Recovery Unit has forced the adjournment of an application by PwC’s Derrick Vickers seeking to validate transactions he entered into with various creditors of failed construction contractor, Ostwald Bros Pty Ltd (OB). Vickers had sought to kick off the application on Wednesday but the FEG team turned up and were successful in having the matter adjourned until March 13. According to sources close…
Our coverage in Robinson’s Reed Blitz Could Attract FEG Attention prompted PPB Advisory partner Mark Robinson to counter with information he believes extinguishes any suggestion that the Commonwealth via the FEG Recovery Unit might be entitled to consider it has a priority claim on funds recovered so far. Robinson pointed out that when Reed’s directors placed the company into voluntary administration (VA) back in June 2012, Ferrier…
It seems that when a liquidator applies to the court for approval of his or her remuneration, advising the judge that you’re offering a big discount doesn’t harm your chances. In Deputy Commissioner of Taxation v Addwealth Financial Services Pty Ltd (in liq) [2018] FCA 96 we learn that BRI Ferrier WA principal John Carrello sought judicial approval for fees of $25,000 plus GST and expenses for work Carrello…
Hell hath no fury like a Committee of Inspection (COI) convinced it’s been kept in the dark – just ask Derrick Vickers. PwC’s national head of corporate finance and restructuring was appointed voluntary administrator (VA) of Queensland-based Ostwald Bros Pty Ltd and two other Ostwald group entities back on August 28, 2017, just two days before the commencement of tranche 2 of the Insolvency Law Reform Act (2017). Now…
PPBA partner Mark Robinson has been running hard on the Reed Constructions case these last five and half years so SiN took a look at the most recent statement of accounts and minutes of meetings to see what he’s been getting for his efforts. Backed with funds from Pat Maloney’s Litigation Capital Management, Robinson has been pursuing an insolvent trading claim against two Reed directors, Geoff Reed and Derry Hill, who…
It doesn’t matter how superbly well prepared the tucker is if you’re drowning in expenses and in the case of Brisbane-based celebrity chef Brad Jolly he’s faced two inimical forces in his efforts to keep Brisbane institution Alchemy afloat. One is the Australia Tax Office, which slapped Jolly’s Hemisphere Restaurant & Bar Pty Ltd with a winding up notice yesterday after commencing recovery proceedings last month in the Federal Court. A…
Some of the lawyers among SiN’s readers may have already seen the “vague statements” proffered by defendants in Fortune Technology Fund Ltd v Premier Eastern Energy Ltd [2018] WASC 35 (7 February 2018). in their attempts to adjourn the hearing of a winding up application. The parties had agreed to a timetable in December last year but when the matter came before Judge Craig Sanderson for hearing…
2017 is done, the numbers have come in and names of note appear among those firms that snared the lion’s share of external administrations (exad) in the year just gone. According to a table of top performers assembled by lawyer Bruce Pasetti’s Stratos Legal, the firm that scooped the largest number of voluntary administrations (VAs) in NSW last year was Domenic Calabretta’s Mackay Goodwin, which notched up…
The year is done, Christmas is come and for SiN it is time to replenish the reservoir of curiosity ahead of what promises to be a fascinating 2018. From next year the Insolvency Law Reform Act (ILRA) will be in full swing. Insolvency practitioners will face a world where creditors will have expanded powers. Appointees will need to get used to being replaced. Courts too…