Restructuring & Insolvency

A judge has expressed concerns that measures implemented to deal with the large number of Bonza creditors expected at the first creditors meeting on Friday unintentionally “foreclosed” on their right to vote to replace Hall Chadwick as administrators.

Budget Australian airline Bonza owes almost 58,000 customers, 320 employees and 130 suppliers after it was put into voluntary administration last week when aircraft lessors claimed the airline was in default and grounded its planes, a court has heard. 

A class action against failed asset finance lender Axsesstoday and auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers has reached an in-principle settlement with the lender’s insurers.

The Full High Court will sit for the hearing of KPMG’s battle to transfer a Victoria class action to Sydney, as the applicant in the case raises a question as to the constitutional validity of the firm’s argument that the NSW Supreme Court is bound to keep a group costs order operative. 

The liquidators for Halifax Investment Services were justified in reaching a compromise settlement in proceedings against King & Wood Mallesons alleging the firm and former auditor Bentleys failed to advise the defunct stockbroker that it had to hold client funds used to trade on its online platform on trust, a judge has found.

Clayton Utz has snagged a big fish from Baker McKenzie, luring the head of the US firm’s restructuring and insolvency practice group.

KPMG has won its application for the High Court to weigh in on the relevance of a contingency fee order in determining a bid to transfer a shareholder class action from Victoria to NSW.

A judge has ordered a litigation funder bankrolling an investor class action against Virgin Australia to show evidence it can meet a $10 million agreed indemnity with the airline, saying it was not being transparent about its financial position. 

A former director of Melbourne-based developer Steller Developments has denied liquidators’ claims that he agreed to give a $120 million personal guarantee before the company went under, saying there was “not one single contemporaneous document” referring to the alleged guarantee. 

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has won sequestration orders against Gold Coast ‘finfluencer’ Tyson Scholz after he failed to pay the regulator’s costs in proceedings that resulted in him being permanently barred from carrying on a unlicensed financial services business.