Insolvency

Our relevant experience includes:

• Acted for the administrator then liquidator of a company involved in the Raine Square development, including resisting an application to replace the administrator, applications to extend meeting convening periods, defending an application to appoint a special purpose liquidator,  and acting in respect of various pieces of Supreme Court satellite litigation
• Acted for principals calling on performance bonds issued by an insurer for Diploma Construction, when the construction company went into liquidation
• Acted for creditor in a Supreme Court application to challenge the liquidator’s rejection of a $2.5million proof of debt
• Acted for a creditor in relation to the administration of the (then) main commercial abalone enterprise in Western Australia.  This involved a restructure of the general industry and the government licensing regime to facilitate a deed of company arrangement by the creditor
• Acted on the $7 million restructure of a grain storage and containerisation company, removal of receivers and refinancing with foreign investment
• Acting for the liquidators of a national real estate group in a general advisory role as well as in litigation involving licensing and regulatory compliance, sale of the company’s rent roll, protection of confidential information, breach of director’s duties, assignment of causes of actions, and claims against trust funds held by third parties
• Acted for the trustee in a significant bankrupt estate (creditors in excess of $30million) including investigations to trace the beneficial ownership and disposition of property, issuing statutory notices compelling production of documents and attendances of individuals for examination, and advice on sham transactions and statutory developments in bankruptcy asset recovery
• Acted for liquidators in Supreme Court proceedings concerning the vesting of unperfected security interests under the Personal Property Securities Act 2009, including whether or not the Act applied, whether securities had been perfected, whether items were fixtures falling outside of the Act, and whether defensive equitable claims could defeat the operation of the Act
• Acted for the bankruptcy trustee in Supreme Court proceedings concerning a significant preference claim
• Acted in Supreme Court proceedings concerning priorities in relation to liquidator fees
• Acted for the creditor in a successful Federal Circuit Court application to appoint a provisional trustee to property pending determination of a sequestration application, and a successful application for substituted service of documents through SMS text messages
• Acted for directors in negotiating an informal personal insolvency agreement proposal with creditors, including advice to the directors on restructuring options for their related corporate entities; advice concerning insolvent trading liability and uncommercial transactions; and advice in relation to director penalty notices issued by the Australian Taxation Office
• Acted for secured creditors in the administration of an accountancy practice, where the creditors were former partners of the practice, including advice relating to the appointment of a receiver, claims against third parties under guarantees, creditor meetings and proposed deeds of company arrangement, and litigation risks relating to underlying transactions