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…
Here’s an unholy shemozzle for the Federal Court to exorcise. Two banks, each with multi-million dollar exposures to separate companies within the same group. Four appointees, installed at some point as either receivers or liquidators of various companies within said group. Add the main shareholder and director, who’s defending one bank’s attempts to bankrupt him. Toss in ASIC. Season with allegations that receivers took possession…
Over in the West this week, Pitcher Partners’ Bryan Hughes and Daniel Bredenkamp failed in their latest attempt to extinguish liability claims being pursued by US energy outfit Blue Sky Offshore Services. The Pitchers pair had applied to the Supreme Court of West Australia for summary judgment against Blue Sky on the basis that its claims against them were not arguable and had no realistic chance…
Over in West Australia Pitcher Partners’ Bryan Hughes and Daniel Bredenkamp have been enjoying one of the not uncommon consequences of managing a deed of company arrangement (DoCA) – defending themselves from the wrath of a dissatisfied creditor. In March the Supreme Court on West Australia ruled that the Pitchers pair shouldn’t be removed as deed administrators of Mesa Minerals Ltd after Mesa’s second largest shareholder, Mighty…
Whatever you do, don’t call Ferrier Hodgson’s Peter Gothard the Special Purpose Administrator (SPA) of Ten Network Holdings (TNH). The incumbent’s having none of it. “Peter Gothard is not appointed as an administrator,” Mark Korda said yesterday. “He has been appointed by order of the court to look at whether Gilbert + Tobin and by extension us, KordaMentha, may have been paid a preference. That’s all.” So what should we call…
In correspondence obtained by SiN, Ten Network Holdings’ administrator Mark Korda expressed his view that the ARITA Code of Professional Practice (COPP) required an upgrade if it was to adequately accommodate the realities of modern restructuring, particularly the realities represented by his firm’s work for Ten’s stakeholders in the months prior to its appointment as voluntary administrators (VAs) of the Ten Group. “KordaMentha recognises the important…
In the wake of KordaMentha’s application to appoint a special purpose administrator (SPL) to Ten Network Holdings, correspondence obtained by SiN reveals the pressure placed upon the top tier insolvency and restructuring firm by both the corporate regulator and the Australian Restructuring, Insolvency and Turnaround Association (ARITA). In a letter released by the Federal Court, ARITA chief executive officer John Winter urged Ten’s voluntary administrators (VAs) to…
There’s nothing like receivers whose retirement from an appointment is only partial to add frisson to the lives of voluntary administrators facing a credit crunch. In the matter of North Queensland Heavy Haulage Services Pty Ltd (Administrators Appointed) [2017] Federal Court Judge Brigitte Markovic articulates a fundamentally sympathetic view of the plight of McGrathNicol trio Keith Crawford, Bill Harris and Anthony Connelly. The three came before…
Ferrier Hodgson’s Peter Gothard has been appointed special purpose administrator (SPA) of Ten Network Holdings but in insolvency’s incestuous world of mutual referral, can any of the parties claim to be above the apprehension of bias? Gothard was appointed SPA yesterday by order of Federal Court judge David O’Callaghan. Those orders came after weeks of industry rumbling about the contents of the Declaration of Independence, Relevant Relationships and Indemnities…
Well this might propel skyward even the most obese of eyebrows. In a judgment delivered in April this year but updated yesterday NSW Supreme Court judge Ashley Black recounts the curious tale whereby SV Partners’ Daniel Quinn and Darren Vardy took charge – albeit briefly – as voluntary administrators (VAs) of Hunter Valley-based Dan Phillips Holdings Pty Ltd. Their appointment came just as a wind…