Bruck probe puts Needham and Taylor fourth

HLB Mann Judd's Andrew Needham

THE politically-charged liquidation of Bruck Textile Technologies (BTT) has catapulted HLB Man Judd partners Andrew Needham and Barry Taylor to number four on the list of Assetless Administration Fund (AAF) recipients.

Since December 2014 Needham and Taylor have received $499,647.50 in AAF monies to fund their investigations into BTT's controversial restructure, which took place prior to their appointment by creditors voluntary liquidation on July 11, 2014. 

Half a million in AAF monies is of course well shy of the $730,000 extracted from ASIC by Storm Financial liquidators Ivor Worrell and Raj Khatri, who hold top spot on the AAF list. But in the life cycle - or death spiral - of BTT, potential remains for Needham and Taylor to apply for more.

Meanwhile Needham and Taylor are closing in on the other front runners. In second place is Deloittes' David Lombe, John Greig and Richard Hughes, whose handling of the fraud-riddled Kleenmaid liquidation required more than $600,000 in AAF grants. Not far behind is PwC, which wrangled $560,000 to assist with the byzantine Westpoint Group liquidation. 

Needham and Taylor's most recent grant 

When contacted Needham was quick to point out that the single largest sum to come out of his AAF grants to date is $200k paid to lawyers Henry Davis York and barrister Peter Kulevski, who conducted the public examinations of BTT's directors and others. (See: Bruck scrutiny attracts funds from ASIC and FEG)

Bruck scrutiny attracts funds from ASIC and FEG

BTT director Philip Bart 

Photo: SiN Images

ASIC and the Department of Employment's (DoE) Active Creditor Program are for the first time simultaneously funding liquidators in a bid to unpick the 2014 restructure of Bruck Textiles Technologies (BTT).

BTT was wound up by a creditors voluntary liquidation (CVL) initiated by its shareholder, Australian Textile Group (ATG) on July 11, 2014. HLB Man Judd's Andrew Needham and Barry Taylor were appointed joint liquidators.

A day earlier, a newly incorporated and related entity, Australian Textile Mills Pty Ltd (ATM), purchased BTT's assets and $11.247 million in net liabilities for $1. The assetless BTT shell was left owing almost $4 million in employee entitlements.

ASIC's head of insolvency practitioner regulation, Adrian Brown told SiN that the government was onto the matter immediately.

"ASIC and the DOE have worked together on the Bruck Textiles matter from the first day of the liquidators' appointment," he told SiN.

"ASIC liaises closely with the DOE concerning its program and our AAF. This way, we can collaborate to determine how best to enforce the law (ASIC's role) and recover FEG (Fair Entitlements Guarantee) advances for the Commonwealth.

Needham and Taylor entered into a funding agreement with ASIC in December 2014 after advising in their August 5, 2014 report to creditors that the BTT directors "may be guilty of an offence under section 596AB of the Corporations Act".

It should be noted that no such finding has been made against BTT's directors. Director and Bruck Group owner Philip James Bart told SiN late last month he had provided all information necessary to demonstrate that the statute had not been breached. He declined to respond to questions submitted in advance of publication, quoting legal advice.