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Brendon Watkins |
| Partner |
| BEc, LLB |
| Melbourne |
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Biography
Brendon joined Minter Ellison as a partner in 2000 after nine years as a partner at Dunhill Madden Butler. He has over 23 years' experience in advising clients on all aspects of insolvency (reconstructions, work-outs and formal appointments), securities enforcement, risk management, banking and finance litigation and general commercial disputes.
He is recognised as a leader in his field in independent publications such as the Legal Who's Who of Australia (nominated by peers in the profession), the Asia Pacific Legal 500 guide, Chambers Global, PLC Which Lawyer? and Experts Guides. Brendon was also named in 'Best Lawyer', published in the Australian Financial Review in March 2008.
Brendon's major clients include the ANZ Bank, Westpac Banking Corporation, CBA, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ferrier Hodgson, Deloitte and McGrath Nicol. He is the firm's national client relationship partner for ANZ.
Brendon is currently acting for the liquidators of seven of the mezzanine finance companies within the Westpoint Group. Debts exceed A$320 million. This was the largest profile insolvency matter of 2006.
He has recently acted for a group of US investors credited in excess of $300 million on the Sons of Gwalia administration, and for the directors and administrators of the ION group of companies, the largest administration in 2005 (bank debt exceeding A$330 million). From 2003 to 2005 Brendon acted for the receivers and managers of Western Metals Ltd (secured debts exceeding A$350 million), having previously advised US noteholders in negotiations to restructure debt in 2001 and 2002. He also recently acted for a syndicate of banks in debt restructure negotiations involving a leading petrochemical company (Qenos) with bank debts exceeding A$260 million.
In 2001 Brendon acted for the receivers and managers of Centaur Mining and Exploration Limited in the sale of the Cawse Nickel Project in WA (secured debts in excess of A$650 million). He has also handled other large-scale insolvency matters for banks, including Pasminco Mining (bank debts in excess of A$2.6 billion) and Ansett Australia.
In 1999, he handled insolvency aspects of the Waterfront dispute on behalf of the Commonwealth of Australia and the Federal Minister for Industrial Relations, helping to achieve a successful resolution.
Brendon also acts for banks and other clients managing credit risks, securities enforcement, bank litigation and a wide range of commercial disputes. He has advised a major bank on credit risks associated with two A$5 billion round-robin facilities. In addition, Brendon has acted for a major bank handling a A$15 million fraud involving an attempted takeover of a public company through unauthorised use of bank funds and letters of comfort. He has extensive experience in mediation and other forms of dispute resolution.
Brendon has presented conference papers and seminars on numerous topics including voluntary administration, voidable transactions, duties of directors, securities enforcement, third party cheques, retention of title clauses, invoice finance, shadow directorships, duties under s420A of the Corporations Act and pooling.
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