HSF in Kramer crisis

Rio & BHP face sexual harassment class action, 19 renewables get the green light

December 12, 2024

Welcome to Point Blank.

Today’s brief:

The NSW Supreme Court tossed out a purported Calderbank offer, ruling it failed to meet the “essence” of the principles. Despite being labelled “without prejudice save as to costs” and citing Calderbank principles, the offer fell short. The issues? Two inconsistent sums, a failure to address the matter’s complexity, and an unreasonable 48-hour deadline. The indemnity costs application was dismissed.
In ASIC v Hopkins, the Federal Court ordered a $1.25m penalty against an individual for running 11 unregistered managed investment schemes. It’s the first penalty award of its kind and the third-highest civil penalty against an individual in ASIC’s history. The regulator is zeroing in on dodgy property schemes that lure consumers into high-risk property development schemes.
Courts usually respect the parties' choice of forum—unless there’s a compelling reason not to. In a recent Federal Court case, an individual had entered into a shareholders’ agreement and employment agreement with UK-based entities. One agreement required disputes to be settled in England and Wales, and the other pointed to NSW. The Court refused to stay proceedings, citing the waste of resources and duplication of efforts of running two parallel proceedings. For our front-end friends, when drafting, consider the consistency of terms between intertwining agreements.

The tweet saga with HSF partner Damien Hazard has spiralled into a full-blown crisis with junior lawyers circling.
Sydney-based construction firm Hamilton Mott won a trademark battle against international firm Hamilton Locke after Locke failed to prove its reputation was strong enough to block Mott’s registration.
Moray & Agnew adds a new insurance partner to the mix. Garry Nutt joins the West Australian team with extensive experience in workers’ comp, employers’ indemnity and personal injury matters.
Over 160,000 have joined the Optus data breach class action. William Edwards, KC leads the plaintiffs with Slater & Gordon as instructing solicitors.

As we shift away from coal, 19 renewable projects get the green light. The projects—spanning solar, wind, and battery storage—will generate 6.4 gigawatts, enough to power over 3 million homes. Big players like Neoen, BP, and Andrew Forrest’s Squadron Energy are in the mix. This is the first major tender under the government’s Capacity Investment Scheme, aimed at building 32 gigawatts of renewable capacity by 2030. It attracted 84 bids.
The war against social media continues. In response to Meta's refusal to renegotiate deals with Australian news publishers, Labor is gearing up to unveil new plans that could force tech giants like Meta and Google to renegotiate deals with media outlets or face penalties.
ANU is facing mounting pressure after the National Tertiary Education Union called for VC Genevieve Bell’s dismissal, threatening a vote of no confidence in February. Bell is under scrutiny for double-dipping salaries.
The suspected killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO, Luigi Mangione made a fiery appearance outside court. The 26-year-old shouted, “completely unjust” and “an insult to the intelligence of the American people” before being led inside. Mangione is pleading not guilty.

ASX as at market close. Commodities and crypto in US dollars.

A 12.5% stake in Infratil-backed CDC Data Centres is up for sale, attracting three heavyweight bidders — Australian Retirement Trust, IFM Investors, and Canadian pension giant Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. Though, CDC's current owners, Infratil (48.25%) and the Future Fund/CSC (about 25% each), hold pre-emption rights, which means they could have the final say on who gets to join the party.
CEO of has been holding meetings in Australia all week, mulling whether to make a bid for News Corp’s Foxtel.
Japanese insurance bigwig Nippon Life is merging its Aussie arm, MLC Life, with Resolution Life Australasia. The newly formed entity, Acenda, will have around 2m customers and nearly 20% of the Australian life insurance market, making it a top 3 life insurer in Australia by market share.
Bain Capital just threw a $4.3bn curveball, launching a counterbid for IT company Fuji Soft against KKR. This takeover battle could trigger a wave of aggressive dealmaking in Tokyo.

Diggers

South32 eyes opportunity in Trump’s copper-rich region in northwest Alaska. The Aussie miner, holding development rights, sees the potential for a green light to tap into this valuable resource hub. It could be a “game-changer”, but the seasonal window is narrow, says CEO Kerr.
Two class actions have been filed against Rio Tinto and BHP. The claimants paint a damning picture of systemic misconduct, accusing the mining giants of turning a blind eye to sexual harassment, assault, and discrimination at their Australian mine sites—allegedly for two decades.
Liontown Resources just shipped its first batch of spodumene concentrate to LG Energy Solution, kicking off a major supply deal with the South Korean battery giant. The EV revolution? Fueled right here in Oz.

Fin

Aussie B2B payments platform Pay.com.au is gearing up for a $15 million private placement. Founded in 2020 by Point Hacks’ Ed Alder and Damien Waller, the fintech helps businesses turn expenses into rewards points—redeemable for luxury watches, cars, or business-class flights. It now eyes up a $303 million valuation as it targets the lucrative US small business market. Morgans is sole lead.

Tech & Media

Apple Intelligence arrives in Australia, set to transform how we use our iPhones, iPads and Macs. Its AI tool even comes with a US$1m bounty for anyone who can pierce its privacy protections.
The Coalition is calling out Labor for its reluctance to follow the Biden administration’s push to force ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a ban. The US move was driven by security fears over Chinese access to US citizens' data. The Coalition says the US move is a "wake-up call" and that Labor should’ve rolled out similar legislation.
Telstra has been hit with a $3m penalty for failing to follow emergency call rules during a Triple Zero outage in March. As the national Triple Zero operator, Telstra’s obligated to transfer calls to emergency services, but an ACMA probe found it failed to pass on 127 calls.

Retail & Real Estate

Taxpayers are about to become Rex's biggest creditor, stepping in to replace PAG Asia Capital, which had bankrolled the airline. The federal government has agreed to buy out PAG's debt after the Transport Minister announced a $80m bailout deal to keep Rex in the air. But in a turn of events, ASIC chairman Joe Longo confirmed the government knew about Rex’s alleged governance failings, with ASIC briefing the government on its investigation before the lifeline was announced.
Super Retail claims it axed two senior lawyers for making a defamatory statement about the company, calling it a "serious breach" of their employment. In case you missed it yesterday, Super Retail is defending a claim brought by the two lawyers over their dismissal and a reneged payout.