Our Restructuring and Insolvency partner Masi Zaki and his team recently advised Mr. Sam Freeman, Mr. Colby O’Brien and Mr. Vincent Smith of Ernst & Young, in their capacities as external administrators of a number of entities in the Pindan group of companies (Pindan), on a successful refinance of the secured debt of BankWest Ltd across the Pindan group.
The negotiations involved BankWest, Oxley Holdings Ltd, Pindan’s external administrators and Committees of Inspection. The court approval processes took place in the Supreme Court of Western Australia.
The transactions were novel in that they involved related Pindan entities in liquidation, voluntary administration, recently restructured via Deed of Company Arrangement or under the control of third party directors and shareholders, all transacting with outgoing and incoming financiers.
The transactions facilitated key benefits across various pools of Pindan creditors including by:
- Maximizing the financial outcome of the realization of secured properties via non-enforcement processes.
- Releasing existing circulating and non-circulating secured assets from the outgoing financiers’ security for the benefit of unsecured creditors.
- Contracting on more commercially favourable terms including in respect of limited recourse and agreed forbearance periods with the incoming financier.
- Securing the compromise or release of third party security interests registered against secured properties.
The refinance paves the way for Pindan’s external administrators to continue administering the various estates they control including in respect of companies which remain in administration.