EY’s Sam Freeman. EY’s Colby O’Brien. Remember the stick those administrators appointed to Pindan Group last year copped after it was revealed – by iNO – the extent of the relationships the VAs’ firm EY has with Pindan, its immediate owner Oxley Sparkle and ultimate parent, Oxley Holdings Limited? Plenty was how much and plenty of iNO readers thought that their being able to continue…
Morton + Lee Insolvency’s Gavin Morton. No practitioner likes being replaced just when the labour of administration looks set to moderate courtesy of a deed proposal but unsecureds can be restive beasts, particularly when they are the ATO. Last month it was the turn of Queensland liquidator Gavin Morton to test the Commonwealth debt collector’s patience in relation to a Deed of Company Arrangement (DoCA)…
Hall Chadwick’s Richard Lawrence. Hall Chadwick’s Richard Albarran. Sometime soon we should know whether an administrator trading on a business can claim a lien over funds generated from the sale – by receivers – of assets that were never the property of the company to which the administrators were appointed, and couldn’t be said to have been possessed, preserved and realised by the administrators exclusively…
Lowe Lippmann partner Gideon Rathner. Lowe Lippmann director Matt Sweeney. When writing about legal actions brought against administrators iNO is often reminded of that famous line uttered by the incorrigible Roger Sterling from the Madmen series who said: “Advertisng would be a great business, except for the clients.” This week and not for the first time, we found ourselves musing about how great a business…
Deloitte partner David Lombe. FEG Active Creditor Recovery Unit Director Henry Carr. Documents filed in the Federal Court last week show that the FEG “Active Creditor” Recovery Unit has not missed the opportunity to remind the voluntary administrators (VAs) of Probuild of the need for candour when applying to courts to extend convening periods and personal liability protections. The Deloitte foursome appointed as VAs of…
McGrathNicol’s Rob Kirman. McGrathNicol’s Rob Brauer. Questions of priority of entitlement to trust assets continue to vex even the most unflappable of insolvency practitioners and as a recent court judgment shows, even judicial eminences are wary of conclusive excess. In the matter of Francis (Trustee), in the matter of Fotios (Bankrupt) v Helios Corporation Pty Ltd [2022] FCA 199 Federal Court judge Craig Colvin explains…
Cor Cordis Melbourne partner Bruno Secatore. Cor Cordis partner Neil Cussen. You have to wonder why successful, experienced practitioners accept appointments as administrators when they know there’s winding up applications afoot, other entities in the group are already in liquidation and according to their DIRRI, no indemnity in the offing. Is it evidence of a healthy appetite for risk? Or the desperation that prevails in…
Deloitte’s Sal Algeri. The challenges of identifying assets and liabilities of Probuild would have been apparent to the four Deloitte partners appointed voluntary administrators (VAs) of the stricken builder last month very early on. They or their staff have undertaken engagements of various sorts for Probuild entities going back more than two years and in the week prior to their formal appointment they met with…
Deloitte’s Sal Algeri. Deloitte partner Jason Tracy. Immaterial. Every engagement. Every one of the $560,000-odd dollars Deloitte Australia billed and received from the insolvent Probuild construction group in the last two years, if not six months. All of it. Immaterial. So at least sayeth Deloitte partners Sal Algeri, Jason Tracy, David Orr and Matt Donnelly in their February 23, 2022 Declaration of Independence, Relevant Relationships…
Magnetic Insolvency’s Peter Goodin. Menzies Advisory’s Michael Caspaney. Counsel for resurrected builder Modscape Pty Ltd has been at it again, pillorying one of the company’s former external administrators for seeking remuneration and costs for his defence of an application for a fee review commenced by Modscape in the Federal Court last year. “Unbelievable” Modscape’s barrister Ben Murphy said yesterday in describing Michael Caspaney’s claim for…