Creditors of Queensland Nickel when under Clive Palmer, repaid in full, says liquidator FTI

Creditors of Queensland Nickel, when it was under the control of Clive Palmer, have been repaid every cent owed capping an eight-year chase by its liquidator to recover more than $300m.

Nickel ore for Queensland Nickel's Yabulu refinery is unloaded.

Queensland Nickel’s creditors have been paid back every cent owed them, capping a more than eight-year battle by liquidator FTI Consulting to recover over $300m.

Queensland Nickel, formerly headed by Clive Palmer, folded in early 2016 with about $300m in debts, resulting in the loss of almost 800 jobs at its Yabulu nickel refinery near Townsville. At the time it was considered one of Australia’s largest corporate failures.

FTI yesterday said the “continued perseverance” of it insolvency team had brought results for the company’s creditors.

“The team assumed control of the assets and business operations while working to identify key risks, stabilise operations and implement controls over expenditures,” FTI said.

“Concurrently, the team uncovered opportunities to implement operational improvements, cost savings and rationalisation to determine the true financial position of the enterprise.”

As part of its investigation, FTI said various anomalies had been discovered and the recovery of assets pursued determinedly.

“These covered statutory investigations, the ownership of the Queensland Nickel joint venture and aviation assets, loans and transactions with related parties and material donations and gifts, among other items,” FTI said.

Mr Palmer last year lost a bid to dictate the fate of more than $102m his own company was ordered to pay back in the wake of his Townsville nickel refinery’s collapse.

A number of businesses controlled by the billionaire took Federal Court action in an attempt to prevent the funds from being used to pay liquidators’ fees, creditors and the company that financed the lengthy litigation.

Machinery at the Yabulu refinery in Queensland.

The full bench of the Federal Court dismissed an appeal brought by Mr Palmer’s companies, Queensland Nickel Sales, QNI Metals and QNI Resources, which had argued a judge had improperly found those liabilities were properly and reasonably incurred in pursuit of the debt. The decision followed a multi-year legal dispute spanning several jurisdictions sparked by the collapse of the refinery. The Yabulu refinery has since been sold to new owners.

Liquidators spent years fighting to claw back $102,884,346 that had been loaned by the nickel business to the Palmer-directed company Mineralogy.

The litigation funding to conduct the protracted legal battle was obtained from Vannin Capital Operations Limited.

Mr Palmer and his companies fervently fought the claim, but in June 2021 Queensland’s Court of Appeal ordered Mineralogy return the $102m loan to the liquidated Queensland Nickel Pty Ltd. Two weeks later on July 5, 2021, Mineralogy paid the full amount to QNI.

FTI Consulting said it had co-ordinated the assessment and distribution of payments of approximately $70m, to nearly all 787 Queensland Nickel employees. It also recouped approximately $200m owed to more than 1500 creditors.