Richard Albarran.
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 was seen this week at the first meeting of creditors of Balmaine Gold Pty Ltd.
Ahead of the Tuesday meeting, creditors were supplied with competing marketing material from the incumbents – Hall Chadwick trio Richard Albarran, Richard Lawrence and Cameron Shaw – and those aspiring to replace them – Richard Tucker and Sebastian Hams – of KordaMentha.
Of the documentation sent out to creditors that found its way to iNO’s desk were rate cards – or at least portions of them – for the respective firms which show clearly that at the top level of experience and capability Hall Chadwick puts a higher premium on its people than KordaMentha, despite the latter being widely considered one of the top tier, independent insolvency firms nationally.
Hall Chadwick partners charge $850 an hour. Their equivalents at the top of KordaMentha’s ranks charge $795.
Hall Chadwick directors charge out at $815 per hour, KordaMentha’s at $745. and so it goes, down to intermediate level 3 of the Hall Chadwick material iNO has seen that are charged out at $310 per hour and KordaMentha’s administration staff charged at $200. The respective rate information obtained by iNO is also attached below.
What it shows is that for the creditors of Balmaine, which includes 250-odd priority employee creditors, the possibility of three Hall Chadwick partners remaining attached to this ailing entity at $850 an hour was less troublesome than the possibility of new operatives, who might bring with them a disquieting scent of conflict in respect of a previous related engagement, though that was an issue aspiring replacement administrator Tucker told creditors at Tuesday’s meeting was “just a load of shit.”
As the subsequent poll result rejecting the replacement resolution showed, incumbency is an advantage, and there’s no swearing in hell.
The Rivals’ Rate Cards as seen by Balmaine Creditors
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