Professional experience
Mark has more than 35 years of continuous experience in insolvency practice and has been a principal in public practice since 1993. This experience has covered all forms of insolvency administrations for companies and individuals' estates as well as directing the restructuring and rescue of many business enterprises and the orderly wind-up, sale or merger of solvent businesses at the end of their business cycle.
Mark has developed expertise in conducting formal court-appointed liquidations and trustee appointments, voluntary business reorganisations for resuscitation and rescue and end-of-business cycle wind-ups. He has a constant focus on achieving fair and commercial results for creditors, employees and other stakeholders with clear and candid communication with them.
Mark's work usually involves:
- Assessing, formulating and executing business rescue or asset recovery plans
- The sale of assets, property and businesses as going concerns, debt recovery and the completion of work in progress for realisations
- Investigating losses and malfeasance and recovering Insolvent Transactions, Insolvent Trading claims and other transactions done to defeat creditors or shareholders
- The preparation of expert reports on insolvency claims for evidence in Court proceedings and giving evidence in Court as an expert witness or referee
- Dealing with and resolving complex claims from competing interests.
Mark has worked in many varied industry sectors, including manufacturing, wholesale, retail, building and construction, transport and warehousing, property management and development, professional services, liquor, hospitality, accommodation, registered clubs and superannuation funds.
He also volunteered as the treasurer of a successful Registered Club for eight years, undertaking a $10 million clubhouse renewal, and was the honorary treasurer of a Surf Lifesaving Club for three years.
Recent examples of work include:
- Corporate Business Restructuring: The rescue and restructure of a mining services manufacturer which suffered a significant drop in annual income due to an industry-wide contraction. Annual income reduced from $24 million to $5 million in two years. Validated and reported to creditors management changes to cut overheads and business model size to justify the business continuing and introduce a similar but new product in a different market not constrained to just mining services. Oversaw the fair and commercial sale of business assets to a related entity and restructured unmanageable debts via a Deed of Company Arrangement allowing the business to continue, all staff and superannuation entitlements paid in full and unsecured creditors receiving a dividend from the DoCA.
- Small Business Restructuring: Acted as the Small Business Restructuring Practitioner to assist companies and their accountants to formulate Business Restructuring Plans approved by creditors under the Corporations Act in manufacturing, retail and food service industries. Then administered the plans as the SBR Plan Practitioner
- The trade on and sale of a sheet metal manufacturing business in Western Sydney through a formal liquidation process. Unmanageable debt accumulated due to a health incident of the owner and manager which temporarily incapacitated him and caused a significant business interruption. Particularly the accumulation of statutory tax and insurance debts. Oversaw profitable trading, the completion of outstanding statutory returns and then sold the business as a going concern with the former owner and employees continuing employment with the new owner. Secured and unsecured creditors paid in full from the profitable trading and a surplus distributed to the owner/shareholder after the sale of the business
- Personal Debt Restructure: The restructuring of a professional person’s unmanageable debts accumulated from a large corporate business failure leaving him with large personal liabilities unrelated to his normal professional income earning activities. Quarantined the unmanageable debts via a voluntary bankruptcy whereby I as trustee sold non-essential assets and the debtor undertook, under my supervision and direction, a Compulsory Income Contribution payment plan of monthly instalments for the benefit of his creditors to allow orderly and equitable dividends throughout the term of the bankruptcy
- Recovery of Insolvent Trading Compensation for Creditors: During the liquidation of an electrical contractor business where all of the business assets were secured by a bank, unsecured creditors facing a total loss provided evidence of possible Insolvent Trading by the director. Creditors funded a two-stage recovery process. The first stage was a Court Examination of the facts and evidence to clarify the legal merit of the claim, the possible defences of the defendant and the capacity of the defendant to repay any orders obtained. The 2nd stage was the commencement of legal proceedings which were settled favourably and the Court approving the funding creditors receiving a priority to most of the funds recovered giving them a dividend of 85c in $ after full repayment of their funding costs
- Debts and Foreign Asset Recovery: Court appointed receiver of trust assets deemed to be an unlicensed Managed Investment Scheme. Undertook a detailed investigation which included a court examination process to trace and clarify the use of funds provided by investors. I then took legal recovery actions to collect debts in Australia and property investments in Europe which proved to be a difficult process due to obstruction by the promoters and managers of the scheme. Surplus funds were recovered for distribution to the investors under the supervision and directions of the Supreme Court of NSW
- Expert Insolvency Witness and Referee: Appointed by the Federal Court of Australia as a Referee to undertake an enquiry and provide an Expert Witness Report to the Court about two conflicting expert witness reports. The Court accepted my approach, reasonings and conclusions and adopted all of my report in the proceedings it was required for
- Other Practical Work Experiences: I have managed the sale of many real estate properties (residential, industrial and commercial), sold business and personal assets and whole businesses as going concerns (manufacturing, retailing, liquor and gaming licensed premises, news agencies, licensed post offices, professional service practices). I have also executed warrants for the recovery of assets, undertaken forensic investigation work to trace and recover funds property (debts and voidable transactions) for stakeholders, managed and wound up Self-Managed Superannuation Funds, acted as trustee of partnership assets, assets of deceased Estates and been appointed receiver of properties, specific assets, businesses and superannuation funds.
Qualifications and memberships
- Bachelor of Business (Accounting and Law) - Western Sydney University
- Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ)
- Registration as Liquidator
- Registration as Official Liquidator
- Registered Trustee in Bankruptcy
- Member of the Australian Reconstruction Insolvency & Turnaround Association (ARITA)
