A Sydney insolvency practitioner has been ousted as liquidator of Coal Contractors Pty Limited after the Federal Court decided creditors would benefit from a fresh set of eyes, particular eyes that charged less than the other sets of eyes vying for the gig.
The replacement application was brought last month by Starbelle Energy Pty Ltd (Starbelle).
“Starbelle submits, and I accept, that it is not necessary that any wrongdoing be established. Starbelle submits, and I accept, that an alternative liquidator can bring fresh eyes to the issues without any difficulty arising from the adversarial relationship between the parties.” Justice Ian Jackman.
In March Starbelle commenced proceedings in the Federal Court alleging misleading and deceptive conduct against Coal Contractors, its sole director and shareholder Gary Alexander Williams, Apres Vous Pty Ltd (Apres Vous) and Apres Vous II Pty Ltd (Apres Vous II) and Apres Vous director Ben Thomas Madsen.
iNO readers will recall that Gary Williams was a director of New Wilkie Energy Pty Ltd (NWE) from 7 July 2021 to 16 December 2023, New Emerald Energy (NEE) from 21 May 2015 to the date of the Starbelle pleading, and Corvus Coal Pty Ltd (Corvus Coal) from 14 September 2016 to 16 December 2023.
On January 9 this year BRI Ferrier partners Andrew Cummins, Peter Krejci, John Keenan and BRI Brisbane principal Stefan Dopking were punted as administrators of NWE at the first meeting of NWE creditors.
They were replaced by EY’s Morgan Kelly, Sam Freeman, Justin Walsh and Robyn Duggan who were themselves voted out in favour of KordaMentha’s David Johnstone, Richard Tucker and David Osborne of KordaMentha pursuant to a further resolution at the same meeting.
Now the propensity of the New Wilkie imbroglio to devour registered liquidators (RegLiqs) has arisen again, the details being disclosed on September 27 in Starbelle Energy Pty Ltd as trustee for the Cronulla Coal Unit Trust v Louttit (Liquidator), in the matter of Coal Contractors Pty Limited (in liq) [2024] FCA 1172.
Sydney practitioner Jamieson Louttit is the latest morsel, with the failure of Williams to provide him with a promised $100,000 in funding apparently preventing Louttit from adequately investigating Coal Contractors’ affairs.
From Starbelle’s perspective those affairs include matters relating to its misleading and deceptive conduct proceedings against Williams, who appointed Louttit on May 13 via a resolution passed by Williams alone as sole director and shareholder of Coal Contractors.
Once Louttit issued his seemingly sparsely detailed report to creditors Starbelle saw red, obtained consents from six rival RegLiqs, put forward $200,000 in funding for alternate appointees and applied to have Louttit removed.
While Williams suddenly claimed to have found money sufficient to match the indemnity Starbelle was offering, Louttit wisely refrained from seeking to advance himself ahead of the rivals competing to replace him given recent his experience with NEE, from which he was bounced as administrator in July.
The Minutes of the July 5, 2024 meeting of NEE show Louttit was removed administrator of the company pursuant to a resolution to replace him moved by Gavin Rakoczy.
The Baker Mackenzie restructuring guru was present at the meeting to represent his client, Starbelle, which was admitted to vote based on a claim for legal fees against NEE’s directors, who included Williams.
In place of Louttit, NEE was bequeathed with three new administrators. Guess who? Johnstone, Tucker and Osborne.
But back to Coal Contractors.
Given Justice Jackman could identify no difference in the calibre of those angling to replace Louttit, selecting the replacement once the court decided it was right to do so led to an auction on fees, with Joe Hayes and Chris Johnson cunningly lopping 10 per cent off their normal rates.
That was enough to persuade Justice Jackman to opt for the Wexted Advisors pair ahead of Grant Thornton’s Said Jahani and Lisa Gibb and PwC’s Andrew Scott and Nick Charlwood.
“Among the proposed alternative liquidators, as I have indicated there is no identified difference in ability or experience, however there is a significant difference in the level of fees proposed to be charged,” the judge said.
“As to that, in my view the best interests of the liquidation will be served by appointing Mr Johnson and Mr Hayes of Wexted Advisors as liquidators.”
Further reading:
New Wilkie Energy VAs uncover $60k director payment
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