Deals and Credentials

Ad Hoc and Lender Groups

Bluewaters – ongoing, acting for Elliott, Oaktree, Davidson Kempner, Deutsche and Ares in relation to certain secured facilities made available to Bluewaters in connection with the coal fired power station owned and operated by Bluewaters (supplied by coal from Griffin Coal’s Ewington mine).

Slater + Gordon – ongoing, more recently advising BAML, Davidson Kempner and Metrics as minority lenders to Slater + Gordon on the impact of the Allegro takeover.

Boart Longyear #2– (Insolvency and Restructuring Deal of the Year at the 2022 Australasian Law Awards and TMA Restructuring Deal of the Year 2022) advising the ad hoc group of creditors in relation to the successful A$1.1 billion second restructuring through a creditors scheme of arrangement of ASX- listed Boart Longyear Limited. 

Camp Australia – (Insolvency and Restructuring Deal of the Year Finalist at the 2023 Australasian Law Awards and Finalist TMA Restructuring Deal of the Year 2022) advising Apollo, Broadpeak and Pennant Park as second lien lenders to Camp Australia in relation to the restructuring of Camp Australia through a consensual loan to own. Camp Australia is the largest provider of outside- school hours care in Australia. 

Noble – 2018, acting for an ad hoc group of holders of 2023 notes issued by Noble Trading Co Limited in relation to the Australian aspects of the Noble Holdings Group’s debt restructure. 

Wollongong Coal and Jindal Steel & Power – (Insolvency and Restructuring Deal of the Year at the 2020 Australasian Law Awards) – advising the lender group on its debt restructure via concurrent creditors’ schemes of arrangement.

BlueSky – 2018 and 2019, advising Oaktree as secured creditor and KordaMentha as receivers and managers on the restructure of Blue Sky Alternative Investments. 

Nyrstar – 2019, advising an ad hoc committee of noteholders on the potential restructuring of the Nyrstar group of companies. 

CBA – ongoing, advising with respect to the funding and restructuring of its A$44 million project financing facility made available to Campus Living Villages (Canberra) in connection with the University of Canberra Student Residences project.

Boart Longyear – (Insolvency and Restructuring Deal of the Year Finalist at the 2018 Australasian Law Awards) – advising First Pacific as a major and fulcrum secured noteholder on its first recapitalisation through a groundbreaking creditors scheme of arrangement. 

Slater + Gordon – (Insolvency and Restructuring Deal of the Year Finalist at the 2018 Australasian Law Awards), Winner of Mid-size Company Turnaround of the Year at the 2019 Turnaround Management Association Awards – advising on its A$727 million restructure and recapitalisation via interconditional schemes of arrangement, which included the novel use of a scheme of arrangement to secure the resolution of numerous actual and threatened shareholder class actions, the separation of Slater + Gordon’s Australian and European operations and the injection of significant funding from members of the new syndicate.

Emeco – 2017 (Insolvency and Restructuring Deal of the Year Finalist at the 2018 Australasian Law Awards) – acting for Emeco’s majority noteholders (Brookfield, Goldman Sachs and Ascribe) in connection with the restructure of Emeco through a creditors scheme of arrangement and the restructure and acquisition of Andy’s and Orionstone.

Atlas Iron – (Insolvency and Restructuring Deal of the Year at the 2016 Australasian Law Awards) – advising the majority lenders on its restructure and recapitalisation through a creditors scheme of company arrangement and use, for the first time in Australia, of invoking a stay to protect the scheme process. 

Mirabela Nickel – (TMA Restructuring Deal of the Year 2014 and Insolvency and Restructuring Deal of the Year at the 2015 Australasian Law Awards)- acting for the ad-hoc committee comprising the majority US noteholders and the administrators in relation to a debt for equity restructure – the first 444GA debt for equity of a major ASX listed company

Paladin (Insolvency and Restructuring Deal of the Year at the 2019 Australasian Law Awards), Winner of Restructuring Deal of the Year at the 2018 TMA Awards - advising a JP Morgan led ad hoc group of convertible bondholders. 

Norkse Skog – 2017, advising the majority noteholders in relation to the proposed restructuring strategies for the Australian part of the Norske Skog group. 

Consolidated Minerals – 2016, advising the bondholder committee of Noteholders and incoming security trustee in connection with the group’s restructure.

Billabong – 2013, advising Centerbridge and Oaktree on their successful recapitalisation and refinancing of Billabong, including a successful application to the Takeovers Panel, the first time such an application was made in the context of a restructuring process.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Top Ryde Shopping Centre – 2011, acting for ING, RBS, NAB, ANZ, Suncorp, Goldman Sachs, King Street and Merrill in respect of their A$700 million exposure to the Top Ryde Shopping Centre, and advising the receivers and managers appointed to the Centre, including advising on the sale of the whole of the debt to Blackstone.

Alinta Energy Group – 2010 and 2011, (ALB Restructuring and Insolvency Deal of the Year 2011) working with Sankaty, Marathon, York and Centerbridge, holding one third of the Alinta Energy debt on the restructuring and scheme process. 

Centro – 2010 and 2011, acting for JP Morgan, RBS, BAML and Keybank on their several $billion exposure through Centro’s creditors scheme of arrangement 

Cross City Tunnel (ALB Restructuring and Insolvency Deal of the Year 2008)– advising the syndicate of banks (including Westpac, ANZ , BOSI and others) in relation to standstill and prospective refinancing arrangements and later acting for the receivers and managers in relation to the receivership generally and structured sales. 

Allco Finance Group (ALB Restructuring and Insolvency Deal of the Year 2009) – advising the syndicate (including JP Morgan, Westpac, CBA , RBS and others) in relation to standstill arrangements, receivership planning and asset disposal programs, and later advising the receivers and managers on all aspects of the receivership, including asset sales.

Babcock & Brown Infrastructure – 2008, acting as conflicts counsel to the syndicate of banks (including NAB,ANZ, RBS, CBA and Deutsche).

Octaviar (formerly MFS) – 2008 and 2009, acting for the majority noteholders on the proposed refinancing, restructure and eventual insolvency of Octaviar.

Debtors, Issuers, Borrowers and Sponsors

BIS #2– 2023, more recently acting for Carlyle and Varde as shareholders and lenders

Alita Resources Administration and Receivership– 2023, advising the mine operating companies in relation to the sale process

BIS – (Insolvency and Restructuring Deal of the Year Finalist at the 2018 Australasian Law Awards) – advising KKR, BIS and its directors in relation to the restructure of the BIS Group’s debt facilities.

Toys“R”Us – 2018, advising the Australian subsidiary and its directors on the impact of Toys“R”Us Inc. filing for Chapter II.

Ten Network – (Insolvency and Restructuring Deal of the Year Finalist at the 2018 Australasian Law Awards), Winner of Large Company Turnaround of the Year at the 2018 TMA Awards – advising the Ten Network and its Board on its restructuring initiatives.

Nine Entertainment – 2012, (IPA Insolvency & Restructuring Deal of the Year 2013) acting for Nine on its restructuring and scheme process.

 I–Med – 2011, advising CVC and the directors on various stages of the I–Med deleveraging process. 

Freightlink (the Adelaide to Darwin railway) – 2008, negotiating standstill and restructure arrangements as well as working with the receivers to effect the eventual receivership sale. 

Reliance Rail – 2011, advising the company and its directors in relation to the restructure.

Private Credit Direct Investing

Dominic has acted on many direct investments by private credit funds most of which by their very nature are confidential, but more particularly and an example of a public transaction:

National Group – 2021, advising Nomura, Gordon Brothers and other syndicate lenders on its refinancing

Distressed M&A

Many of the deals otherwise mentioned here have involved distressed M&A, but in addition and more specifically:

Basslink – (Insolvency and Restructuring Deal of the Year at the 2023 Australasian Law Awards) - advising the underbidder in the sale process

Virgin Australia – 2021, acting for an underbidder

Arrium Administration – (Insolvency and Restructuring Deal of the Year at the 2017 and 2018 Australasian Law Awards)– advising the administrators appointed to the Arrium group, including advising on the dual track IPO and trade sale process for MolyCop.

Brisconnections – 2014, acting for bidding consortium led by CP2 (including PSP, ATP & DIF).

BOSI Corporate Portfolio – 2013, acting for a fund bidder.

Asset Recovery and Litigation

Arrium – (Insolvency and Restructuring Deal of the Year at the 2017 and 2018 Australasian Law Awards) – advising Anchorage, Davidson Kempner, Deutsche Bank and CBA in relation to proceedings against certain directors and officers of Arrium. 

The Liquidators of Cobar Consolidated Resources and its subsidiaries – 2014, acting in relation to the proceedings commenced in the Federal Court of Australia by the liquidators and one of the subsidiary entities, Silver Corporation of Australia (in liquidation), against one of its former directors for insolvent trading breaches.

Brisconnections – 2013 onwards, acting for PPB as receivers on their successful claim against traffic forecasters

RiverCity – 2012, acting for the receivers and managers of the RiverCity Motorway on the successful claim against the traffic forecasters in one of largest settlements ever achieved in Australia.