Fiona Murray-Palmer
Fiona Murray-Palmer
Biography
Fiona Murray-Palmer RITF is a restructuring and insolvency lawyer based in Melbourne.
Her areas of knowledge include corporate restructuring and insolvency, security enforcement, insolvent trading and preference claims, managed investment schemes and complex financial instruments, directors' obligations and duties, and advice on trusts, equitable rights and the Personal Property and Securities Act. Fiona has acted in numerous complex and commercial litigation matters in both state and federal courts, often involving financial products or claims for equitable relief involving proprietary claims.
Some of Fiona’s key strengths are her forensic investigatory and analytical skills and project management. She advises financiers, creditors, directors, and insolvency practitioners and has acted in numerous complex litigious matters as well as many informal restructures. She has also acted for major banks in relation to negligence claims, fraud and other non-lending losses.
Fiona has extensive insolvency and restructuring experience across a range of industries including construction, franchising, property development and managed investments schemes (registered and non-registered). Fiona has also acted in numerous complex commercial litigation matters in state and federal courts, including the High Court of Australia.
Her major clients include KordaMentha, Deloitte, National Australia Bank Limited, KPMG, Cor Cordis, PWC, BDO and McGrathNicol.
In 2024 she was made a fellow of the Australian Restructuring Insolvency and Turnaround Association (ARITA), a leading industry organisation in the insolvency profession. She is currently a member of the Vic/Tas sub-committee of the ARITA Board.
Professional experience
Representative experience
Representative experience
- KordaMentha – Grocon group of companies – Grocon is one of Australia’s largest construction and development players and is known for complex and landmark projects across numerous major Australian cities. KordaMentha are the deed administrators or liquidators of 90 companies within the Grocon Group. The engagement has covered many challenges including obtaining an extension of the convening period for calling creditors’ meetings, continued involvement in long-running litigation against Infrastructure NSW and applications to the Supreme Court of Victoria for bespoke orders dealing with the settlement of that litigation.
- Cor Cordis – iProsperity Pty Ltd and associated companies – Fiona is advising the liquidators of 11 of the companies in the i–Prosperity group of companies which were placed into administration in July 2020 by their director Michael Gu. Mr Gu and his fellow officer Harry Huang have now fled Australia. Creditors are claiming in excess of $350 million arising from investments with the group of companies. The liquidators’ investigations suggest that the directors misappropriated a significant proportion of the funds and that the group may have been run in a manner akin to a Ponzi scheme.
- General Motors Company – acted for GM Co (USA based) and the Australian Holden entities on managing the effects of the decision to withdraw Holden new vehicle sales from the Australian market. Fiona was part of the NRF team that advised and assisted GM on how to manage the consequences of that decision including dealing with the Holden dealers, the ACCC, ASIC, counterparties to numerous contracts (including for sponsorship of the NRL and Lifesaving Australia). She currently has the conduct of the one of the residual Supreme Court proceedings brought by a (former) Holden dealer against the Holden entities.
- KPMG – BWX Ltd – acted for the receivers and managers appointed to the ASX-listed company and owner of Go To Beauty. Advised the receivers on issues relating to employees and their entitlements that arose upon the appointment of the receivers and the administrators.
- Deloitte – acting for the Liquidators of Merlin Diamonds Ltd – this engagement involved both an investigation of suspected breaches of the Corporations Act committed by the former directors of the company and the sale of the diamond mine owned by the Merlin entities. The Liquidators’ investigations ultimately led to Joseph Gutnick being disqualified from managing corporations. The sale of the mine required engagement with secured creditors, the traditional owners of the land where the mine was located and the relevant NT mining agencies.
- BDO – on the Court appointed liquidation of Midland Hwy Pty Ltd, Foscari Holdings Pty Ltd and Bilkurra Investments Pty Ltd. Nicholas Martin of BDO was appointed to Midland, Foscari Holdings and Bilkurra Investments pursuant to applications in the Federal Court made by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). The liquidations involve the investigation of "land banking" schemes in which the companies were involved and the apparent misappropriation of in excess of $24 million from investors who were induced to invest in the land banking schemes by apparent misrepresentations made to them by the Companies' agents. The liquidators are conducting public examination in the Federal Court of Australia.
- DSI – Bradley D Sharp, trustee – for the US Chapter 11 Trustee of bankrupt California agribusiness giant SK Foods LP, Bradley D Sharp. SK Foods was the second largest processor of tomatoes for commercial use in the United States. The collapse of SK Foods LP resulted in one of the largest Chapter 11 cases ever filed in the Eastern District of California. Fiona acted for Mr Sharp in respect of a number of Australian superior Court proceedings in which Mr Sharp was involved as part of his efforts to recover approximately $50 million from Australia for the benefit of the US creditors of SK Foods LP. This included acting for the US Bankruptcy Trustee in response to an application by the AFP under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (Cth) to restrain approximately $50 million dollars held by the liquidators and receivers of SK Foods LP's Australian subsidiaries. The application was the largest confiscation application in Australian history and involved extensive engagement with the POC Act and consideration of the interaction between the confiscation regime with the ordinary principals of insolvency and corporations law, as well as cross-border issues. The matter was resolved before a final hearing with the parties agreeing to consent orders for the restraint and forfeiture of property and then payment of compensation to Mr Sharp under section 78 of the Commonwealth Proceeds of Crime Act.
- KordaMentha – for the receivers appointed to Westgem Investments Pty Ltd, a special-purpose company established to construct Raine Square – a prominent building in Perth's CBD. Fiona acts for the receivers in a number of related legal proceedings involving claims and cross claims with director interests and with the Westgem liquidator (some of which are funded by Bentham IMF), which are currently being heard in the Supreme Court of Western Australia. Those matters include an application for a Special Purpose Liquidator, declarations as to alleged breach of duty, access to receiver documents, an application for directions to approve a settlement, a defamation claim as well as assisting in the defence of a damages claim against the financiers for an amount alleged to be approximately $300 million.
- Monadelphous (SinoStruct) – advised in respect of PPSA claims made by the administrators of collapsed transport group, McAleese.
- HRL Limited and subsidiaries – for PPB Advisory, the voluntary administrators of the HRL group of companies, which operated a number of businesses including engineering, consulting and testing, particularly in the energy sphere as well as utility infrastructure design and project management. We provided advice on all aspects of the business including the sale of the businesses and employee-related issues.
- Ferrier Hodgson (now KPMG) – for the administrators and eventual liquidators of Great Southern Limited (receivers and managers appointed) (in liquidation) and 38 of its subsidiaries, with debts of approximately $1 billion. Great Southern was Australia's largest promoter of managed investment schemes, was listed on the ASX and has almost 12,000 shareholders. A subsidiary managed funds on behalf of more than 43,000 investors in 45 forestry and horticultural managed investment schemes.
- National Leisure & Gaming – advised National Australia Bank Limited (NAB) generally on its exposure to the troubled hotel operator, National Leisure and Gaming group (NLG) and ultimately the sale of its debt and security. We advised NAB on all strategic and legal issues associated with exiting the NLG relationship and ultimately in the sale of its debt and security. We acted for NAB in its capacity as security trustee, facility agent and financier. We also advised the receivers of the NLG Group on the sale process for the business operated by NLG.
- Deloitte – for the receivers of Opes Prime Stockbroking Limited (and its related entities). This very high profile receivership involved complex share lending arrangements and arrangements with financiers. There were a variety of interests involved in addition to litigation and disputes between numerous counterparties. We assisted with unravelling complex financial dealings leading to significant recoveries made in Australia and overseas.
- ASIC – during a 7 month secondment, Fiona had the principal conduct for ASIC of a number of Federal Court matters concerning breaches and contraventions of the Corporations Act. Fiona led the prosecution to wind up a number of related unregistered managed investment schemes.
- Ansett Australia Ltd – the administration of Ansett Australia Limited – representing the Ansett Pilots Association on the question of its members' entitlements and also acting for the contradictor in the Ansett Deed Administrators' application to pool the assets of the Ansett group of companies.
Education
Education
- Bachelor of Arts, University of Melbourne (1997)
- Bachelor of Laws (Honours), University of Melbourne (1997)
- Advanced Insolvency Law and Practice I & II, University of Southern Queensland (2005)
Admissions
Admissions
- High Court of Australia 2002
- Supreme Court of Victoria 2000
Memberships and activities
Memberships and activities
- Law Institute of Victoria
- Australian Restructuring Insolvency & Turnaround Association (ARITA) - Member of the Vic/Tas Committee
- Women in Insolvency and Restructuring Victoria (WIRV)
Languages
Languages
- English
- French
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