When financial difficulties arise, there are increasingly complex legal issues and risks for everyone involved. There are also investment opportunities. It is key to understand the risks and opportunities, to plan carefully and then to implement with speed and strategic clarity and vision.
Our restructuring and insolvency team has the depth of specialist expertise and experience to assist clients to capitalise on opportunities and to react quickly to risks. The key is to be able to anticipate issues and to have plans on how to resolve them. We have demonstrated over many years that our expertise in restructuring and insolvency is unparalleled, as is our ability to execute carefully and quickly to help our clients achieve their desired outcomes.
Clients engage the team on the most significant, complex, time-sensitive matters whilst delivering successful outcomes whether they be transactional, advisory or litigious. Our ability to meet their business needs through our full-service strength in Australia, backed by our international reach, has enabled us to be the commercial counsel of choice on high profile and complex deals. Our ability to work collaboratively, operating with our international counter-parts, has given us an extra edge in providing a seamless service to clients in real time in today’s global business world.
Equipped with a team of high performing and dynamic practitioners we are known for our ability to navigate multi-faceted and fast moving distressed situations, with our energetic and experienced team advising on some of the most complex issues.
Restructuring and Distressed Investment
Clients seek us out to develop solutions and implement them using flexible and creative methods.
To support our clients through these situations, our team has access to Mallesons’ specialist expertise and cross-jurisdictional reach. We are better equipped than anyone to help clients to develop and implement innovative solutions to capitalise on distressed investment opportunities.
Insolvency Advice
We have a thorough understanding of the specific drivers and objectives that govern insolvency procedures. Our deep experience and expertise allows us to be creative in using insolvency procedures to achieve strategic outcomes for our clients.
We regularly act for creditors, insolvency practitioners, government and many different types of stakeholders in major insolvency situations.
Insolvency Litigation
Complementing our restructuring and distressed investment practice, we continue to act in the most contentious corporate insolvency and administration situations in the market. Such matters frequently involve multifaceted litigation and complex issues requiring innovative solutions, and are conducted under the public and media microscope.
Our contentious insolvency practice is driven by outcomes – not procedures. Our insolvency litigation practitioners are known leaders in the field and are acknowledged for running novel arguments and developing innovative solutions to achieve the best results for clients.
Key matters include:
- Qenos: advised the consortium including LOGOS as manager on its acquisition and subsequent recapitalisation and acquisition of land on which this significant manufacturing group operated. This was a highly significant and controlled acquisition involving a strategic investment in a distressed Australian group with hundreds of employees and complex operations.
- Probuild:advised the administrators of the Probuild construction group including its Probuild, WHBO Infrastructure and Monaco Hickey subsidiaries in this significant restructuring. This restructuring involved the successful sale and recapitalisation of the WBHO Infrastructure business as a going concern to SRG and the sale of Probuild’s Victorian business to Roberts Co.
- Basslink:advised the syndicate of banks pre-appointment and then two different sets of Receivers on all aspects of the matter, including complex operational and regulatory matters and strategic negotiations with the State Parties regarding the Basslink electricity interconnector between mainland Australia and Tasmania. The project was sold successfully to publicly-listed APA Group.
- Clough:acted for Deloitte in relation to the administration, sale and restructure of the Clough Group. This highly successful administration collectively saved over 1000 jobs, avoided $1.6 billion of creditor liabilities and ensured the continuation of a number of key Clough projects: including Snowy Hydro 2.0, Inland Rail.
- Kwinana:acted for the Kwinana Waste to Energy project and the project sponsors in relation the restructuring and sale to the Acciona Group (as EPC Contractor) completed through a creditors’ scheme of arrangement.
- CCI: acted for a general insurer in relation to the restructure of its policyholder liabilities through a creditors’ scheme of arrangement. This restructure was designed to facilitate the orderly run off of the general insurer and the preservation of valuable reinsurance for the benefit of policyholders. This was the first restructure of an Australian general insurer since HIH and the first ever solvent contingent reserving scheme to be implemented in Australia.
- Wiluna:advised FTI Consulting as the voluntary administrators and deed administrators of the Wiluna Group on all aspects of the administration and deed of company arrangement completed in 2023. Wiluna owned and operated a number of gold projects in Western Australia including the Wiluna Gold Project and the Matilda Gold Project.
- Virgin:advised the Federal Government, the majority of the aircraft lessors and major airports on the administration and subsequent sale to Bain Capital.
- Griffin:advised Deloitte on the receivership of Griffin Coal Mine located in Collie, Western Australia (WA) which includes a confidential series of sensitive negotiations with the syndicate of offshore lenders, other commercial off takers and the State of Western Australia.
- Arrium:advised the financiers with more than $3 billion exposure to the Arrium Group and on subsequent litigation involving the drawing of debt . This administration was one of the largest and most complex in Australian history, involving $4 billion of debt, 6,000 employees, thousands of contractors, thousands of suppliers, 30,000 customers, and more than 50 banks, funds and bondholders.
