Pitcher Partners

Picking over the carcasses of failed companies and seeking to bring them back to life is something of a specialty in the Western Australian corporate scene, where the appetite for risk and a ready supply of listed shells have spawned a unique industry.

Brainytoys has called in Bryan Hughes of Pitcher Partners as administrator to the company, ending more than a year of uncertainty surrounding the Perth toy company.

Platinum Australia has been placed into voluntary administration, citing operational issues at its Smokey Hills mine in South Africa and a costly dispute with a former contractor.The Perth-based miner and explorer appointed Bryan Hughes of Pitcher Partners as its administrator today.

Luke Saraceni’s Westgem Investments has been placed into liquidation, following a heated creditors meeting in Perth this morning in which leading insolvency experts argued over who should be appointed to the role of liquidator.

Navigator Resources’ struggle to raise funds has ended for the worse with administrators called in and about 200 workers being laid off.

Gold producer Apex Minerals has been placed into receivership following an attempt to raise $1 million to repair a generator at its Wiluna mine.

Perth-based explorer Kin Mining has agreed to purchase the Leonora gold project in the Goldfields from the administrators of Navigator Resources for $2.7 million.

Perth franchise group Quick Colour Print has gone into liquidation, adding to a string of Western Australian business collapses this month, including two substantial construction contractors and a mining contractor.

Struggling iron ore miner Pluton Resources has fallen back into the hands of receivers and managers, less than six months after the board regained control of the company, as part of a new structuring proposal.

Engineering business VEEM is forecasting strong growth in revenue in the current financial year but a fall in profit, the family owned company has disclosed in the prospectus for its $25 million initial public offering.

SPECIAL REPORT: The stock market’s appetite for new listings is allowing a range of companies, from family-owned engineering firm Veem to big national player Alinta Energy, to raise capital.

Perth-based architecture firm DAPM Architects is in the hands of liquidators, less than a week after it was spun-out of national group DesignInc, but its managing director says the collapse represents an opportunity for a new beginning.

A major shareholder in failed manganese company Mesa Minerals has lost its bid to have administrators replaced after the Supreme Court ruled there was no evidence of bias between Pitcher Partners and Mesa’s largest stakeholder, Mineral Resources.

Water is being pumped out of a disused iron ore mine on a Western Australian island after pit walls slumped, sparking fears it could collapse and contaminate the ocean on the other side.

Oil and gas software developer Stochastic Simulation is expected to be put up for sale, two weeks after it was put into receivership. 

Pitcher Partners managing director Bryan Hughes has announced he will move on to chair the Perth-headquartered firm, with executive director Leon Mok to step into his role.

Legal appointments

Curtin Law School director, consumer and small business law Eileen Webb has been appointed to the Law Reform Commission of WA. Ms  Webb joined Curtin in 2016 after 15 years at the University of Western Australia’s law faculty. 

Oil and gas software developer Stochastic Simulation has gone into liquidation, about five months after it went into receivership, with secured creditors likely to receive about 4 cents in the dollar in a best-case scenario.

Telethon Speech & Hearing has appointed Tim Cooney and Jeremy Rigg to its board. Dr  Cooney is an ear, nose and throat surgeon who practises at Princess Margaret Hospital and St John of God Subiaco.

Our weekly appointments wrap includes Adam Bick, Jacob Deysel, Ben Macpherson, Nick Burns, Melanie Leighton, Matthew Carr, Andrew Forman, Melissa Winks, Ian Wells, Stephen Neale and Kate Casellas.

Our weekly appointments wrap includes Carl Parlongo, Marius van der Merwe, Riaan Piek, Alexandra Turner, Steve Harris, Nick Yeo, Ashlee Harrison and Lee Schofield.