Liberty Bell Bay next act in Gupta’s insolvency circus

With the NSW Supreme Court last week ending Sanjeev Gupta’s bid to keep Tahmoor Coal Pty Ltd out of liquidation competition for work from the disintegrating GFG Alliance shifts to Liberty Bell Bay Pty Ltd (LBB), operator of the only manganese smelter found anywhere along the bucolic banks of Tasmania’s Tamar River.

The same day judge Ashley Black terminated the administration of Tahmoor and appointed McGrathNicol’s Shaun Fraser and Jonathan Henry as liquidators ASIC, fed up with LBB ‘s non-compliance with court orders the regulator obtained in mid-2025, commenced winding up proceedings against LBB.

According to ASIC LBB hasn’t lodged annual reports for the last five financial years.

Teneo’s Martin Ford, Stephen Longley, Rebecca Gill and Graig Crosbie have been tapped for consents and whoever is appointed will need to cooperate with Sal Algeri and Travis Anderson, the Deloitte pair appointed as receivers over a manganese stockpile by the Tasmanian government in January after LBB defaulted on its obligations under the terms of a loan agreement entered into in last August.

Of course, the big question will be whether Gupta attempts to keep LBB out of liquidation by appointing administrators, and if he does, whether he’ll seek to have the hearing of ASIC’s winding up application adjourned and the case moved to Tasmania, as far from Justice Black as possible.

The matter’s scheduled to come before Justice Black for first directions on March 16.

This story is published for the benefit of iNO Priority holders and must not be shared, copied, reproduced or otherwise distributed without the written permission of the publisher.