Certainties few as Tahmoor liquidators take charge

There are few certainties when it comes to Tahmoor Coal Pty Ltd at the moment, despite last Friday’s ruling in the NSW Supreme Court terminating the administration of the company and appointing Shaun Fraser and Jonathan Henry as its liquidators.

“Any debts authorised and incurred by the former administrators during their period of appointment remain a matter for the former administrators. As liquidators we do not accept and are not liable for debt incurred by the former administrators.” Shaun Fraser and Jonathan Henry.

At any moment one or other of the various secured debt holders could neuter the McGrathNicol pair and their leading role by appointing receiver managers. Fraser and Henry’s move to immediately terminate the majority of Tahmoor’s employees has potentially made that decision easier.

Liquidation also means the FEG Recovery Division’s attention to the matter is now formally crystallised.

Henceforth Fraser and Henry can expect their dreams to be disturbed by the spectre of special purpose liquidators (SPLs), egged on by FEG Czar Henry Carr and bankrolled by the deepest pockets in the land.

What certainties there are include the court-approved funding that will help Fraser and Henry complete the winding up with the least chance of embarrassing loose ends.

Also certain is that McGrathNicol’s 2026 charge out rates are not the rates charged by Joe Hayes and Chris Johnson, the recently ousted administrators from Wexted Advisors.

Hayes was charging out as administrator at $750 an hour. According to McGrathNicol’s schedule of rates its hard working managers cost $790 per hour and partners Fraser and Henry charge $1150 per hour, a figure they certainly believe they’re worth.

And if there is anything in this mess more certain than that it’s that the newly installed liquidators will not have a bar of any expense for which they are not responsible, something made abundantly made clear in a circular distributed to Tahmoor creditors on Monday.

“Any debts authorised and incurred by the former administrators during their period of appointment remain a matter for the former administrators. As liquidators we do not accept and are not liable for debt incurred by the former administrators,” Fraser and Henry said. They sound pretty certain.

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