A settlement reached in a lawsuit by the liquidators of collapsed steel giant Arrium against 10 former company directors accused of insolvent trading has been approved by a judge, who noted that while the settlement amount was “substantial”, the deal involved a “substantial compromise”.
A mid-trial settlement has been reached in a lawsuit brought by the liquidators of collapsed steel giant Arrium against 10 former company directors and officers for allegedly engaging in insolvent trading.
Law firm Herbert Smith Freehills has attacked a lawsuit brought by a group of lenders against collapsed steel giant Arrium, rejecting claims that $430 million in loans was borrowed under misleading or deceptive representations.
The former group treasurer of collapsed steel giant Arrium has hit back at claims brought by the company’s liquidators that it was trading while insolvent, arguing the case had been ‘infected’ by evidence from an expert who was also a plaintiff in the case.
Doomed iron and steel giant Arrium attempted to stave off its inevitable $2.8 billion collapse and put off negotiating with its lenders until the last minute despite warnings from its legal and financial advisors, liquidators for the company told the court.
Directors of steel producer Arrium continued to borrow money from “vulnerable” lenders in the months prior to the company’s $2.8 billion collapse and “bled cash” despite the inevitable end, a number of lenders have said on the first day of a 40-day trial in the NSW Supreme Court.
The directors of steel giant Arrium, which collapsed owing $4 billion in debts, should have known earlier that the company was in a “liquidity crisis” and was trading while insolvent, liquidators for the company allege.
A judge has indicated that he will allow Arrium Group’s liquidator to give expert evidence at an upcoming trial in proceedings against the steel giant’s former directors over its $4 billion collapse, despite his other role as a party in the case.
Investment house Washington H. Soul Pattinson is fighting a ruling that it owes its former finance director over $1.1 million in damages after the ASX 100-listed firm terminated the executive without notice and failed to pay out entitlements.
IOOF subsidiary Australian Executor Trustees failed to drag law firm Sparke Helmore into a case after it was hit with a $76.6 million judgment over breaches of duty in the sale of a 42,000 hectare timber plantation by collapsed forestry giant Gunns Group.