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…
This sounds like one for the lit funders’ slide rule – a suspended ASX shell, millions in dissipated shareholder capital, the same law firm allegedly acting for both parties in a merger and a voluntary administrator punted after a judge ruled his appointment was invalid. It was back in August 2016 that a court ruled that Mackay Goodwin’s Domenic Calabretta had been invalidly appointed voluntary administrator of…
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…
SiN opens by apologising for the crime of coincidence which sees us writing about Jamieson Louttit for the second time this week. The coincidence can be explained by pointing to the small size of the Australian insolvency profession. Practitioners can’t help but cross paths on rival appointments and today’s tale doesn’t deal solely with the Pitt Street principal of Louttit & Associates. PPB Advisory’s (PPBA) Mark Robinson…
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…
The arm wrestle over $835,021.94 paid into a deed of company arrangement (DoCA) has come to a possible conclusion in the West Australian Supreme Court of Appeal with a judge overturning an earlier decision of the WA Supreme Court. As a result Pitcher Partners’ Bryan Hughes and Daniel Bredenkamp as receivers and managers of Pluton Resources have been found to be entitled to the funds ahead of…
Grant Thornton’s Mike McCann and Said Jahani could be in for a wild ride as voluntary administrators (VAs) of failed construction outfit, CRCG-Rimfire Pty Limited after the pair on Monday survived an attempt by creditor activist group Subbies United to replace them with its preferred practitioner, Michael Caspaney of Menzies Advisory. Last night McCann rejected claims from creditors who attended that he had told the first meeting…
UPDATE Monday, November 27, 2017: It appears Ozem Kassem and others referred to below can rest easy, at least for now. SiN can reveal that over the weekend Stephen Hathway the administrator of the Plaza West deed of company arrangement, received a critical payment under the terms of the DoCA which had been in arrears. The payment followed a threat by Hathway to place the company into…
The issue of referrals initiated in a foreign language piqued SiN’s interest as we leafed through the Declaration of Independence, Relevant Relationships and Indemnities (DIRRI) sent to creditors of CRCG−Rimfire Ply Limited last week. Grant Thornton’s Mike McCann and Said Jahani picked up the appointment as voluntary administrators (VAs) from Vincent Shi of Hanrick Curran, the company’s external accountants. According to the DIRRI, an unidentified Grant Thornton (GTAL) staffer then…
SiN’s been examining material relating to Beechworth Land Estates (BLE) which is in the hands of Neil Cussen and Ezio Senatore and the question has to be asked: is this Australia’s oldest VA? The Deloitte duo were appointed voluntary administrators of BLE in July 2014 and have extended the convening period for calling a second meeting of creditors about half a dozen times. Along the way they’ve…