Balancing the unique circumstances of your business.
Insolvency and restructuring assignments require a commercial approach. Our lawyers are skilled at balancing the technical solution with the unique circumstances surrounding our clients’ business objectives.
Our ability to blend the legal duties and obligations of the client with the commercial realities of insolvency underpins the legal counsel we provide. Our insolvency expertise complements our general commercial litigation focus to ensure that we are well placed to assist insolvent corporates involved in insolvency proceedings or funded litigation, key in the current market conditions. Our expertise is sought after in high profile insolvency administrations and in particular because we are free to act against banks for insolvency practitioners.
We regularly represent listed and unlisted corporate debtors, secured and unsecured creditors, liquidators, voluntary administrators and receivers throughout Australia and overseas on corporate workouts, debt recovery, reconstructions and corporate insolvency.
Our expertise covers both disputes and advisory matters for many major multinationals, including Microsoft Corporation, McDonald’s Australia, Treasury Wine Estates, SABMiller, Unilever, and Blackmores.
We draw on our experience in a range of industries and markets to advise on the diverse activities of companies including:
In workouts and restructurings, our restructuring and insolvency partners work closely with our specialist debt finance partners to provide an integrated, cross-disciplinary team with the full range of skills which may be required.
We are delighted to share with you the next edition of our Insolvency & Restructuring Case Summaries, looking back on the 2023 calendar year.
Acted for PKF Melbourne in their capacity as liquidators of APCHL in relation to one of the largest retirement village collapses in Australia.
Continuing to act on the run-off of its A$220 million debenture fund including numerous contested court hearings in the Federal Court against the trustee, Perpetual, and the structuring and obtaining of approval in April 2019 for a scheme of arrangement.
Acting in proceedings issued in the Supreme Court of Victoria to remove DW Advisory as liquidators of Aus Streaming Ltd and replace them with PricewaterhouseCoopers as liquidators.
Advised the external administrators of the AFL Group in respect of all aspects of the external administration.
Acting for KordaMentha in their capacity as liquidators of Black Oak Minerals on the sale process of the Marda Gold Project to Ramelius Resources Limited through a DOCA and court application, pursuant to section 444GA of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth).
Acting for Deloitte in their capacity as liquidator of Babcock & Brown, a large multinational investment fund that collapsed post the GFC.
Acting for the administrators and subsequently liquidators.
Advised in relation to the restructure of the Tigerlily Group and the UK restructure of Nude By Nature.
Advised Brookfield, in its capacity as shareholder and majority secured creditor on the deed of company arrangement (DOCA) proposal and the acquisition of the business through DOCA (involving the preservation of business).
Acting for Roger and Carson and Aston Chase Group in their capacity as liquidator of Fly 365 Pty Ltd.
Acting for the directors of the Grocon Group in relation to the administration of that Group.
Acting for PwC (formerly PPB Advisory) in their capacity as liquidators of the Gunns Group in almost 200 recovery actions.
Acting for Ferrier Hodgson in their capacity as voluntary administrators of Halifax Investment Services.
Acting as a representative creditor and investor seeking to assert the rights of a certain class of creditor/investor to maximise their return in the Courtenay House liquidation.
Acting for PwC (formerly PPB Advisory) in their capacity as liquidators of Linc Energy including the successful defence of the High Court Appeal in respect of environmental liabilities for liquidators.
Acting in the successful defence of claims brought by ASIC against a liquidator in Australian Securities and Investments Commission v Wily & Hurst [2019] NSWSC 521. JWS also acts on many other confidential mandates for liquidators defending allegations brought by various regulators.
Advising the administrators and deed administrators of LNGL and LNG Group in respect of all aspects of the voluntary administration of the companies.
Advising in relation to the receivership including advising on transactions for the sale of business and assets of the group, the conduct of examinations of the directors, and recoveries including associated litigation.
Acting for Grant Thornton in their capacity as administrations of Northern Energy Corporation and Colton Coal (two subsidiaries of the listed New Hope Group).
Acting for McGrathNicol in their capacity as voluntary administrators and liquidators of PrimeSpace Property Investment Ltd, the developer of multimillion dollar property developments.
Acted for the liquidators of Octaviar Limited and Octaviar Administration Pty Ltd (arising out of the collapse of the MFS/Octaviar Group).
Acting for the director of the Ralan Group of companies which were placed in administration. As a consequence of the administration, over 1,000 purchasers of apartments in QLD and NSW became creditors of the Ralan Group for the value of the deposits paid by them for the apartments.
Acting on the successful restructure and recapitalisation of Rapid via a pre-packed Deed of Company Arrangement.
Acting in relation to the administration and then liquidation of Theta Asset Management Limited and the administration and subsequent DOCA and Creditors’ Trust for Valuestream Investment Management Limited.
In this article, we unpack a case that highlights the Court's broad power to terminate security interests pursuant to s 90-15 of the Insolvency Practice Schedule (Corporations).
The High Court of Australia has upheld the New South Wales Court of Appeal decision that foreign state immunity extends to a national airline subject to a winding up proceeding. The High Court held...
We are delighted to share with you the next edition of our Insolvency & Restructuring Case Summaries. With over 45 case summaries highlighting the key takeaways and the practical implications for...