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.
Clive Palmer’s Mineralogy has lost its bid to make Sino Iron and Korean Steel cough up over $529 million for mine site remediation in Western Australia, after the mining company argued the terms of their contracts required an immediate lump sum payment.
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.
Horizon Oil has won its bid to shield Herbert Smith Freehills documents advising the company did not breach foreign bribery laws from being revealed in a defamation lawsuit brought against Fairfax Media by a Papua New Guinea government Minister.
A former director of a Leighton Holdings subsidiary has been hit with a third foreign bribery charge after a six-year AFP investigation found bribes were paid to Tanzanian public officials to secure a mooring replacement contract worth $US66.48 million.
Two Clive Palmer companies have again been blocked from accessing documents held by two law firms and a litigation funder to pursue a potential lawsuit against Queensland Nickel, with an appeal court dismissing the bid as “unmeritorious”.
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.
Two shareholders of failed Arrium Group have secured leave from the High Court to challenge a ruling that nixed their planned examination of a former director to bolster a class action over the collapse of the steel producer.
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.
Whether a contingency fee order made in a Victoria Supreme Court class action can survive a transfer application to a NSW court could be the next high stakes class action issue for the courts.