Court orders investigation into Ten administrators

Original article by Patrick Durkin
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 16 : 19-Jul-17

The Federal Court has appointed insolvency firm Ferrier Hodgson to conduct an independent review of the fees paid by Ten Network to KordaMentha in the months prior to the TV broadcaster’s collapse. The move follows concerns that KordaMentha may have a conflict of interests in its role as administrator of Ten, given that co-founder Mark Korda had been acting as an adviser to Ten’s board since late February.

CORPORATES
TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX TEN, KORDA MENTHA AND COLLEAGUES PTY LTD, FERRIER HODGSON AND COMPANY, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, GILBERT AND TOBIN LAWYERS, ARNOLD BLOCH LEIBLER, WIN CORPORATION PTY LTD

ASIC questions Korda’s Ten role

Original article by Ben Butler
The Australian – Page: 19 : 18-Jul-17

The independence of KordaMentha as administrator of the Ten Network has come under scrutiny by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission and the Australian Restructuring Insolvency & Turnaround Association. The issue centres on KordaMentha’s role as an adviser to Ten prior to its collapse. ASIC and KordaMentha have supported a proposal for Peter Gothard of Ferrier Hodgson to undertake an independent investigation into whether the fees received by KordaMentha constituted a preference payment.

CORPORATES
TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX TEN, KORDA MENTHA AND COLLEAGUES PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN RESTRUCTURING INSOLVENCY AND TURNAROUND ASSOCIATION, FERRIER HODGSON AND COMPANY, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, GILBERT AND TOBIN LAWYERS, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, BIRKETU PTY LTD, ILLYRIA PTY LTD, ATANASKOVIC HARTNELL CORPORATE SERVICES PTY LTD

Google, PwC’s global alliance

Original article by Agnes King
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 29-Oct-14

Luke Sayers, CEO in Australia for global accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), has announced a new alliance with web search engine services group Google. The latter’s enterprise MD in Australia, Kevin Ackhurst, notes that while both entities are still free to strike deals with the respective partner’s rivals as well, in some areas there will be an exclusive arrangement. The aim of the new collaboration is to offer consulting services to businesses affected by digital disruption. PwC will also resell and install Google’s Apps for Work suite of office software products

CORPORATES
PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS, GOOGLE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, DELOITTE TOUCHE TOHMATSU LIMITED, QUATTRO SYSTEMS PTY LTD

Defusing the family conflict timebomb

Original article by Damon Kitney
The Australian – Page: 20 : 16-Oct-14

The 2014 version of the "Family Business Survey" conducted worldwide by PricewaterhouseCoopers notes that just 33% of such enterprises in Australia have a shareholder agreement, while globally the average is above 50%. Consultant David Smorgon argues that the dismantling of the $A1.5bn Smorgon Consolidated Industries conglomerate in 1995 shows the value of an adequate governance process in dealing with family ownership issues. Another finding in the study is that relatively few local family business operators have plans to hand over to their children

CORPORATES
SMORGON CONSOLIDATED INDUSTRIES PTY LTD, PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS, POINTMADE PTY LTD, COOPERS BREWERY LIMITED

PwC revenue soars after client overhaul

Original article by Andrew White
The Australian – Page: 19 : 23-Jul-14

Luke Sayers, CEO of the Australian operations for global accounting group PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), has announced revenue growth of 7% to $A1.57bn for 2013-14. The healthy demand for its services among existing clients was supplemented by the strong contribution of the Booz & Company consulting firm, acquired during the year and now known as Strategy&. Sayers also noted that PwC is creating a new unit for digital change management advice, as part of a four-year restructuring push

CORPORATES
PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS|BOOZ AND COMPANY (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED|MGI MELBOURNE PTY LTD

Fairfax defence: Leighton consultancy deal ‘corrupt’

Original article by Leo Shanahan, Damon Kitney
The Australian – Page: 25 : 23-Jun-14

Fairfax Media is resorting to the defence of truth in the defamation law suit brought against it by ex-Leighton Holdings CEO Wal King. He objects to a series of articles published in 2013 that claimed he had knowledge of bribes paid to gain oil sector contracts in Iraq. The defence now mounted by Fairfax also alleges that corrupt and unethical conduct occurred when King sought to obtain a consultancy role worth $A5m from Leighton after he stepped down. The company maintains that no such agreement was in fact struck

CORPORATES
FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, LEIGHTON HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX LEI, UNAOIL GROUP, SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES