This Month
Alvarez & Marsal plunders Deloitte to erect local restructuring unit
Two years and 50 partners later, US bigwig Alvarez & Marsal is kicking off an Australian restructuring arm. And it has triggered a mass exodus from Deloitte’s offices.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
Big builders enjoy recovery as insolvencies hammer small players
Even as large contractors report stronger earnings, the loss of smaller subcontractors cuts capacity and creates risks for the whole sector.
- Michael Bleby
November
Administrators called in to probe Gupta’s troubled European empire
A UK court backed ArcelorMittal’s bid to launch an administration process for the parent company of six steelworks owned by Whyalla boss Sanjeev Gupta.
- Hans van Leeuwen
- Investigation
- NSW residential property
The tech billionaire, his wife, her ex-husband and a big property deal
WiseTech Global founder Richard White has invested in many ventures, but a disused industrial site is one of the more surprising. It could be a lucrative one.
- Max Mason, Kate McClymont and Nick McKenzie
Forrest hands Hastings a reprieve after chairman capitulates on debt
The billionaire’s private Wyloo Metals business has agreed to withdraw a default notice that would have pushed the rare earths explorer into insolvency.
- Peter Ker
Risks rise in Gold Coast apartment development
As banks focus on smaller and more secure projects, developers of bigger projects are turning to riskier and more expensive sources of credit.
- Michael Bleby
Forrest’s Wyloo declares solvency concerns over Hastings rare earths
Andrew Forrest’s Wyloo Metals has challenged directors of rare earths aspirant Hastings to explain how their debt-laden company remains solvent.
- Peter Ker
‘We gave it everything’: AI start-up calls it quits after raising $60m
Administrators are looking for buyers of the assets of fallen retail company Hivery, which had raised over $60 million from leading VC firms.
- Paul Smith
Gupta owes $684,000 to suppliers in Sydney’s industrial heartland
An Australian business owned by one of India’s richest families is among those chasing payments, while Aurizon extends ban of iron ore transport at Whyalla.
- Simon Evans
Student caps threaten accommodation work, builder Richard Crookes says
The family-owned builder reported a deeper loss of $21 million and said the owners gave it a $30 million injection earlier this year.
- Michael Bleby
Sanjeev Gupta strikes deal to stay afloat. For the fifth time
The embattled industrialist and Whyalla steelworks owner has offered his creditors yet another term sheet – one he says is necessary to save his UK operation.
- Hans van Leeuwen
Regal Funds-backed True North Copper in $60m equity recap
True North’s secured creditor Nebari Holdings, a mining credit fund co-founded by former Glencore traders Daniel Freuman and Clark Gillam, will be paid in cash and equity.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
Gupta ‘has reached the end of the road’ on $300m debt, court told
San Francisco investment giant White Oak Global Advisors has given the Whyalla steelworks owner 10 weeks to reach a settlement. He says he’s confident he can.
- Updated
- Hans van Leeuwen
Crowdfunding platform Equitise calls in administrators
Equitise, which helps companies raise capital without hiring expensive investment bankers, fails to secure fresh funding needed to keep its operations afloat.
- Paul Smith
Lex Greensill scuttles English farm project
The fallen financier says he is – for now – no longer buying a 502-acre tract of park and farmland in his home village, Saughall, amid an entrenched local rift.
- Hans van Leeuwen
October
- Postcard
- Manufacturing
Sanjeev Gupta’s entire steelmaking empire is teetering on the brink
Questions hang over the future of the British businessman’s Whyalla operations as his European mills shut down or fend off insolvency.
- Hans van Leeuwen
- Updated
- Aviation
Toll swoops on Rex’s air ambulance business
The logistics giant is on the verge of acquiring the collapsed carrier’s air ambulance business. Any buyer for the rest will need to upgrade an ageing fleet.
- Ayesha de Kretser and Sarah Thompson
- Exclusive
- Start-ups
Drone start-up Swoop Aero crashes to earth, enters administration
Swoop Aero, a drone delivery start-up backed by CSIRO’s Main Sequence, is being restructured by administrators two years after turning down a $100m takeover.
- Yolanda Redrup, Paul Smith and Tess Bennett
- Exclusive
- Manufacturing
Gupta’s steel empire restructures global boards as troubles mount
The conglomerate behind the Whyalla steel mill has lost high-profile directors from its international boards, while a global advisory panel is entirely defunct.
- Kylar Loussikian and Hans van Leeuwen
- Updated
- Manufacturing
British courts pile more pressure onto Sanjeev Gupta
The Whyalla steelworks owner faces court action for not filing accounts, and a fresh legal battle to keep his European operations out of administration.
- Updated
- Hans van Leeuwen
