Hunt on for New Tel millions
By Michael Sainsbury and Geoff Elliott
14jan03
THE chase is on for the missing New Tel millions as freshly appointed liquidator of the failed telco, PricewaterhouseCoopers' partner Phil Carter, eyes legal action to help repay creditors owed up to $50 million.
In his sights will be New Tel's founder and chief executive Peter Malone, a man with a penchant for fast cars and first class travel, as well as other directors of the company.
Mr Carter will also seek to use new powers now available to him to unwind four transactions worth $15 million, including a $10 million insurance policy for insolvency, and a $2.55 million deposit made to DigiPlus, once an acquisition target of New Tel.
Mr Malone presided over a fund-raising of almost $100 million for New Tel in 1999.
When Mr Carter took charge on December 8 there was barely $200,000 in the bank. Mr Carter said he would be sharing notes with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, which has already commenced investigation into New Tel and may be considering criminal charges against directors of New Tel.
Top-five legal firm Blake Dawson Waldron is advising Mr Carter.
About 130 creditors of New Tel yesterday met for the second time, gathering in the plush surrounds of PricewaterhouseCoopers' Sydney Room in Sydney.
They saw off the third and final attempt by mysterious outfit Broadband & Wireless to keep the company out of the liquidators' hands after a drawn out vote in a meeting that lasted more than four hours.
Mr Carter has estimated that about $40 million to $45 million is available to be collected through a series of court actions designed to unwind transactions made while New Tel was trading insolvently.
In his first report to creditors 10 days ago, Mr Carter indicated he shared the concerns of the ASIC, suspecting New Tel of trading insolvently for as long as a year before its December 2002 collapse.
The motion to liquidate the company was put by its largest creditor Telstra and seconded by AAPT.
Sources said Mr Carter addressed the meeting, followed by B&W representatives David Humann and Richard Steggall, who outlined the group's latest offer.
Mr Carter then compared the option of liquidation being recommended by him to the B&W offer.
He drew creditors attention to a $4 million hole in the B&W plan after he spoke with legal representatives of B&W latest backer, Europcar Australia boss Mario Salvo, who cut his $8.5 million commitment to the plan in half.
Mr Carter said he hoped New Tel staff could be paid out within two months and signalled his intention to call for proofs of debt in the next couple of days from former New Tel employees.
Another hoping to benefit from New Tel's liquidation is Mark Silbermann, the chief of telephony reseller Tele One and former financial officer of the failed telco One.Tel.
He confirmed he is bidding for New Tel's 56,000-strong fixed-line customer base, arguing that PricewaterhouseCoopers should unwind a transaction New Tel struck with RSL Com in which New Tel handed over the customers to RSL.
"My deal is better for creditors, I'm not as greedy as RSL Com," Mr Silbermann said.
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