FTI yet to consent to Parbery as SPL

FTI Consulting's Quentin Olde 

AN application to appoint PPB Advisory's Steve Parbery special purpose liquidator (SPL) of Queensland Nickel (QN) has been lodged in the Federal Court but the stricken nickel firm's general purpose liquidators (GPLs) are yet to declare whether they will consent to or contest the move.

Quentin Olde, one of four FTI Consulting partners formerly appointed GPLs to QN on April 27 told SiN yesterday that the company's creditors are also undecided.

"We had a meeting with the committee yesterday (Tuesday) and we're trying to understand their views and concerns and are continuing to work with the applicants to better understand the basis for the application and the extent of the role of the SPL," Olde said.

Creditors are understood to have expressed doubts about the need for an SPL. Nor is it rocket science to conclude that FTI might be underwhelmed with the prospect of PPB nicking its gig. The application's originating process seeks orders which include preventing the GPLs from doing anything specified as a designated, SPL task without first obtaining written consent.

That includes pursuing claims, conducting public examinations, commencing legal proceedings and conducting investigations into any of the matters outlined in the application's supporting affidavit, authored by King & Wood Mallesons' insolvency gun, David Cowling.

Further, FTI's gang of four - Olde, John Park, Stefan Dopking and Kelly-Anne Trenfield - reject any suggestion that they have a conflict of interest with their appointor, which is the usual justification for installing an SPL.

Yet unanswered is the question of why the SPL applicants - The Department of Employment (DoE) and the Commissioner of Taxation (CoT) - won't fund the GPLs.

DoCA imminent as Palmer ousts FTI

Palmer United Party chief of staff
James McDonald has abruptly stood down as a
director of Queensland Nickel Sales.

IN the wake of FTI Consulting's removal as managers of the Yabulu nickel refinery in Queensland yesterday, creditors now face the prospect of the operations once again being controlled solely by Clive Palmer's nephew.

Until last Sunday, James McDonald and Clive Mensink were the directors of Queensland Nickel Sales Pty Ltd (QNS), a company first registered in 1972. However McDonald's removal was only made official on Tuesday, one day after it was revealed that QNS had replaced Queensland Nickel Pty Ltd (QN) as the manager of the stricken nickel plant. QN has been controlled by FTI's John Park since January 18 when he was appointed voluntary administrator (VA).

McDonald, who is Palmer's current chief of staff, became a director of QNS in May 2015, joining Palmer's nephew Mensink, Palmer and another PUP loyalist, Phillip Collins on the QNS board.

McDonald's Linked In profile indicates he has extensive experience in organising road shows for IPOs and events management. It also states that he was global marketing director for Blue Star Line until October 2014. Before taking over from Collins as Palmer's chief of staff he was the PUP's lead South Australian candidate for the Senate.

Mensink is also a director of QN, QNI Metals and QNI Resources, the latter pair of companies being the joint venture partners which own the Yabulu refinery and its related infrastructure and assets. Putting QNS in charge of Yabulu's operations and removing McDonald means Mensink is again in sole control of the operations and no longer subservient to the authority of external VAs.

He and the other three directors of QNS became two only recently. Collins resigned on December 31, 2015 and Palmer resigned on January 10. Eight days later Park was appointed VA of QN, which employs the Yabulu workforce and until yesterday managed the refinery operations. Crucially, QN does not own any significant assets. The stage was set for the VA to be sidelined.

How did FTI trump Hall Chadwick for Yabulu?

Hall Chadwick's Brent Kijurina was part of
team that visited the Yabulu refinery.

FTI Consulting might have first been contacted about a VA appointment to Queensland Nickel Pty Ltd (QN) on Sunday January 3 but according to reports in The Australian newspaper, rival firm Hall Chadwick had a team on the ground at QN's Yabulu nickel refinery in Townsville the following day.

The report, published on Thursday January 7, put Hall Chadwick's Richard Albarran, Jovandeep Singh, Mathew Badcock, and Brent Kijurina at Yabulu from Monday January 4. The four reportedly spent several days assessing the refinery's financial position while in crisis talks with QNI chief financial officer Darren Wolfe and others.

At the same time, QN's owner, former director and controversial parliamentarian Clive Palmer was negotiating with FTI, though this wasn't made public until January 20 when FTI, by then installed as voluntary administrators, distributed a circular to QN creditors outlining a timeline of meetings stretching back to October 11, 2015.

So how was it that Hall Chadwick came to be there? Were Kijurina and his colleagues lured north as part of an impromptu insolvency beauty pageant? Did Palmer, who has a long association with FTI, put some competition on site to test the market? Ultimately he opted for FTI, which now has carriage of an insolvency worth millions in free publicity. Was the Hall Chadwick crew even in the running and if so, did something work against them?

The answer is a mystery but a well-placed bad referral couldn't have helped. SiN has learned that a former client of Hall Chadwick contacted QN's sole director, Clive Mensick after reading The Australian's report on January 7.

Zigmont "Ziggy" Gniot is a self-declared bankrupt who knows Mensick through their mutual support of Palmer's failed soccer team Gold Coast United. When Gniot read the Australian on January 7, he jumped on the phone to regale Mensick with an account of his own experience with Hall Chadwick.

GE moves to bankrupt Tinkler

Nathan Tinkler outside the NSW
Supreme Court
SiN Images

GE Commercial Australasia has moved to bankrupt former resource properties dealer Nathan Tinkler over $2.803 million in payments owing under a "US$ Aircraft Loan Facility Agreement" dated November 17, 2010.

A creditors petition obtained by Sydney Insolvency News outlines how Tinkler, 39, was served a bankruptcy notice issued by the Official Receiver on June 25. 

He failed to pay or otherwise comply with the requirements of the notice and on July 22 GE filed a creditors petition and affidavits in support of an application for a sequestration order. GE said it has no security over Tinkler's assets.

Tinkler has had a long battle with GE over a Dassault Falcon 900C executive jet and an Augusta A109S helicopter which were seized by receiver Nathan Landrey of FTI Consulting on behalf of GE in 2012. Landrey subsequently placed the aircraft for sale. Whatever he was able to recoup has left a substantial shortfall. GE's petition refers to Tinkler owning property in Newcastle.

The bankruptcy notice and creditors petition followed a judgement debt handed down in favour of GE in the Supreme Court of NSW on May 19 this year. The judgement sum was $2.252 million. It's assumed the additional $551,000 approximate is interest. The matter is due to return to the Federal Court on September 2, 2015.

Email SiN