Grant Thornton excoriated over Arrium

Westpac restructuring chief
Gwyn Morgan. 

HELL hath no fury like a banker denied the voluntary administrator (VA) of his choice, as Grant Thornton's Paul Billingham discovered during his truncated tenure as VA of Arrium.

As a result of accepting the appointment, SiN understands at least four receiverships were lopped from GT's advisory division in a day.

The axe was wielded by Westpac's restructuring chief Gwyn Morgan, who wanted good mate Peter Andersen's firm McGrathNicol installed to recast Arrium's slag heap of unsecured debt into an LME-grade recapitalisation. 

Morgan was apparently apoplectic when GT consented to act. SiN understands he expressed his displeasure by phone. Andersen - perhaps unwilling to have his own high dudgeon eclipsed - sent a "strongly worded" email.

Of course, such a set of events presumes that Westpac and the other three major banks - squirming on the hook for a collective $1 billion unsecured - believed McGrathNicol could be seen to act for all creditors with the appearance of independence.

Litigation funder facing liquidation as colourful identities blue over Bookarelli

Richard Kurland (L) and Bruce Dennis.
Photo: SiN Images

IT’S ironic that litigation funder Bookarelli Pty Ltd is facing potential liquidation, given how profitable its proof-of-debt facilitation sideline appears to have been for the $1 company linked to sometime fraud investigator and Blue Mountains resident Richard Kurland.

According to a September 2013 District Court judgement, between 28 June 2011 to 28 March 2012, almost $800,000 was paid into a solicitors' trust account linked to Bookarelli.

The funds, paid by McGrathNicol in its capacity as deed administrator of ION Limited, were dividends for the failed auto parts makers creditors, who executed a deed of company arrangement (DoCA) on May 27, 2005.

The dividends went to the solicitor's trust account in accordance with agreements entered into between Bookarelli and the ION DoCA shareholders, a group of shareholders that had accepted Bookarelli's offer to facilitate lodging their proofs-of-debt with the deed administrators. 

Under the agreement the solicitor - Marcel Joukhador - is required to pay 50 per cent of the dividends to the ION DoCA Group shareholders and 50 per cent to Bookarelli, its fee for pursuing the shareholders' claims on their behalf.

But Bookarelli hadn't found ION shareholders willing to forgo half their dividend on its own. Back in 2010 Bookarelli entered into an agreement with Katanga Developments whereby Katanga would market Bookarelli's services to nominated shareholders of ION, Babcock & Brown and other other insolvent entities.

In exchange for Katanga persuading ION shareholders to take up the offer, Bookarelli would direct either Joukhador or a second nominated solicitor, Paul Lee Ming, to pay Katanga 25 per cent of the distributions.

Katanga Developments is controlled by Fred Gulson, the man who sprang to national prominence when the late Rolah McCabe became the first Australian to successfully sue a tobacco company for personal injury, though her 2002 win was overturned in the court of appeal after her death.