Supreme Court freezes Hellyer Metals assets over Goshawk’s 'out of reach' claim
A web of corporate entities with interconnected directors has prompted urgent court action to stop Hellyer Metals allegedly shuffling assets beyond legal reach. What the court heard.
A Supreme Court judge has ordered a freeze on the transfer of shares by company Hellyer Metals after an urgent ex parte application by lawyers for Tasmanian company Goshawk Mining who say Hellyer is attempting to put the company and its assets “out of our reach”.
David Palmer and Michael O’Farrell SC appeared in Hobart’s Supreme Court on Tuesday on behalf of Goshawk Mining, who said shares from Hellyer Underground and Hellyer Gold, subsidiaries of Hellyer Metals Pty Ltd, have been transferred to Celestial Pacific Group – whose director and whole shareholder is a business associate of Hellyer Metals’ former director.
It comes as Goshawk Mining continues its legal proceedings against Hellyer Metals after a business sale agreement of Goshawk to Hellyer was never completed.
This has not been set for trial yet.
However, Mr O’Farrell told Associate Justice Michael Daly that Goshawk alleges that Hellyer Metals is attempting “a concerted effort to ensure that the company is put out of our reach”.
“We would submit from what we know that effectively, the defendant has put the two things that could have provided the value that Metals could have derived from Underground and Gold has been made significantly more remote than it was prior to November 5,” he said.
This follows a move by the state government to order the closure of the Hellyer Gold Mine this month.
Mr O’Farrell said through ASIC documents and affidavits, Goshawk Mining had tracked the transfer of shares and ownership of Hellyer Gold and Hellyer Underground from Hellyer Metals to other companies owned by people formerly related to Hellyer Metals.
“Your Honour is probably getting the picture here – there’s all these people in different corporate entities but they all have something to do with each other,” he said.
This includes Graham Cox, a director and major shareholder for Hellyer Metals who stepped down on October 22, Allan Bates, an alleged business associate of Mr Cox, and Louise Horrocks, general counsel for Hellyer Metals.
Associate Justice Daly made the orders in the application to freeze any movement of assets until Friday afternoon, when both parties will appear in court.
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Originally published as Supreme Court freezes Hellyer Metals assets over Goshawk’s 'out of reach' claim
