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.

KPMG's Templeton wins appeal to have remuneration downgrade reviewed

KPMG partner Damian Templeton

IT'S taken 12 months but KPMG's Damian Templeton has - with  King & Wood Mallesons' help - overturned a September 2014 judgement rejecting his application for a review of an earlier determination slashing his and former partner Phil Hennessy's remuneration as receivers of the illegal Letten Schemes by $545,000.

Last Friday the Court of Appeal set aside a September 2014 judgement of Justice Michelle Gordon (now of the High Court) refusing Templeton and Hennessy's initial application to have the fee reduction reviewed. It also ordered that their application for a review be heard again by another judge.

SiN has paraphrased from the judgement, which you can read at: Damian John Templeton, Philip Arthur Hennessy and KPMG Australian Partnership v Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

In March 2014 Registrar Timothy Luxton fixed the receivers’ remuneration, costs and expenses for the period 1 January 2012 to 31 March 2013 at $3,764,738.39. This followed the filing on 17 June 2013 by the receivers of an interlocutory application seeking approval for their remuneration, costs and expenses for that period.

Their claim was into seven categories — Administration and Risk Management, Assets, Creditors, Investigations, Investors / Distribution, Statutory Obligations and Trade On. The total was $4,309,813.79