Simon Cathro of Cathro & Partners. Cathro & Partners’ Andrew Blundell. Several companies operating goldmines have entered external administration recently, just when the yellow element’s spot price would seem to be supportive of solvency, if not profit. iNO’s coverage in the past few months has included reports on the travails of Jin Resources (Australia) Pty Ltd and its Gilded Rose gold mine near Cloncurry in…
Shaw Gidley principal Paul Gidley. Rodgers Reidy’s Andrew Barnden. There are few things that should get the pulse racing like consenting to become administrator of a corporation about to be wound up. Knowing there’s a problematic debt, knowing that a hearing’s imminent and knowing not much else about an entity’s affairs must elevate the tension for even the most cocksure practitioner, especially in circumstances where,…
Hall Chadwick’s Richard Albarran. KordaMentha’s Richard Tucker. In insolvency, incumbency has its virtues, if for no other reason than that creditors desperate to have a voice might generally prefer the first devil presiding over their particular hell. And even when the incumbent is shown to charge more for the privilege of impaling claims on the trident of pari passu, being first has its advantages, as…
Hall Chadwick’s Richard Lawrence. KordaMentha’s Richard Tucker. It might be thought wise to never let someone who’s after your job address those who’ve assembled to decide your fate, but Richard Lawrence risked it yesterday when he temporarily vacated the chairman’s seat at the first meeting of creditors of Balmaine Gold Pty Ltd. The partner from the Hall Chadwick Melbourne practice made the decision some two…
Hall Chadwick’s Richard Albarran. Fresh from being turfed out of an appointment as voluntary administrator (VA) of a company in control of gold mine in Queensland, Richard Albarran is now facing resistance from another gold miner disinclined to let the Hall Chadwick Sydney partner anywhere near its nuggets. To this end, Golden Point Pty Ltd (Golden Point) yesterday sought an urgent injunction in the Federal…
KordaMentha’s Richard Tucker. Worrells’ Christopher Darin. No matter what misgivings liquidators of a company might have about the conduct of separate liquidators appointed to a related entity, they must always resist the temptation to apply to wind up that related entity if it’s subject to a deed of company arrangement (DoCA). That’s the message Supreme Court of West Australia Master Craig Sanderson delivered last week…
Hall Chadwick partner Blair Pleash. The year has ended on a potentially awkward note for Hall Chadwick partner Blair Pleash after a court last week ordered an end to the administration of Jubilee Infrastructure Pty Ltd. Pleash, who flies the flag regularly for Hall Chadwick in Queensland, was appointed administrator of Jubilee on December 6. By December 9 one of the directors of the company…
Chris Baskerville of Jirsch Sutherland. Insolvency practitioners need to be a thick-skinned and philosophical lot. Resentful creditors, regulators inclined to scape goat and duplicitous directors make for a generally adversarial stakeholder group that’s all too eager to pillory appointees at the merest whiff of an oversight. It’s no profession for those who need to be loved and when a practitioner cops a kicking they need…
Hall Chadwick partner John Vouris. Hall Chadwick partner Kathleen Vouris. The ephemeral nature of a corporate trustee’s right of indemnity continues to bedevil those charged with the winding up of a trustee company’s affairs. Trust deeds allow for the appointment of new trustees whenever an incumbent is insolvent or anticipated to shortly become so. Those wielding the power to appoint a replacement rarely decline to…
KordaMentha partner Kate Conneely. KordaMentha partner Rahul Goyal. Those few independent insolvency firms that operate at the top end of the market – McGrathNicol and KordaMentha specifically – can have a hard time clearing the conflict bar. Secureds are forever knocking on their doors, begging to avail themselves of their forensic expertise and often they’ll come knocking again once the investigating accountant (IA) reports have…