Landlord face-off

👋 G’day

Today’s brief:

• RM Williams picks a fight with its landlord in a rent dispute.

• The Federal Court spent over $160k on catering – see which judge had the most lavish farewell ceremony.

• High Court rules in favour of law firms to claim costs in their own disputes.

Enjoy your morning coffee ☕️

PRACTICE POINTS

Law firms claiming costs in their own disputes

• The High Court has wrapped up a seven-year saga between Bruce Gordon’s private company, Birketuand and law firm Atanaskovic Hartnell. In a 5-2 decision, Birketu must pay over $500,000 in costs to Atanaskovic Hartnell after a junior lawyer impersonated Bruce Gordon’s son to steal $9m in 2017. The case settled a key question of whether law firms can claim costs for their employed solicitors under the overturned Chorley exception. NSW and Victorian courts differed on whether law firms could recover costs for salaried solicitors in their own disputes. The High Court sided with NSW, saying law firms could claim the costs incurred by employed solicitors because not doing so would hurt solicitor litigants.

• Superfund mergers are now under ASIC’s microscope—its latest worry? Whether the rapid industry consolidation has actually delivered the promised benefits to members. The wave of mergers followed APRA’s 2021 push to consolidate smaller, uncompetitive funds for member gain. But, as it turns out, the plan hasn’t exactly gone smoothly—transitioning has led to issues in maintaining seamless member services: The Australian

• ASIC’s “current view” on memecoins? They’re unlikely to be classified as financial products per ASIC’s December guidance. Recently ASIC’s been cracking down on crypto products it deems to breach existing regulations. But memecoins—surging in volume and hype—don’t seem to be on the regulator’s radar. Now that all depends on how they advertised, says KWM partner Urszula McCormack. If it is presented as a way to (1) manage a financial risk or (2) make a financial investment, then we’re in choppy waters: Capital Brief

WORD ON THE STREET

Landlord face-off

• Name two things more inseparable than a lawyer and their RM Williams boots. Bet you can’t. Well, now the Tattarang-owned boot maker is in a legal stoush in its Adelaide hometown. Its former landlord is demanding around $200k in disputed rent and costs: The Australian

• Gilbert + Tobin has added banking & finance partner Stanley Mok to its Sydney team, who specialises in complex securitisations. He was at Dentons for 7 years at Dentons and, before that, at Ashurst and Allens: Lawyerly

• Ashurst has bolstered its risk advisory team with 2 new partner additions, Rachael Falk and Kathleen Conner. Falk returns to Ashurst (formerly Blake Dawson Waldron) after spending her time as CEO of the Cyber Security Cooperation Research Centre. Falk also led the Government’s response to two of the largest cyber incidents. Conner joins from KPMG, where she was a partner in their risk and compliance team: Lawyers Weekly

TALKING POINTS

UK demands Apple’s encrypted data

• It's George Orwell’s 1984. UK security officials recently demanded that Apple build a backdoor to access all content uploaded to the cloud—globally. This undisclosed order, issued last month, would require Apple to hand over encrypted material on a blanket scale, not just help crack a specific account. No major democracy has done this before: The Washington Post

• The Federal Court dropped a bombshell on the Senate, revealing it spent (wait for it..) over $160,000 on catering for judges’ welcome and farewell ceremonies over the past three years. While the court initially claimed no funds were used last year, the reality is far from modest—costs ranged from a few hundred bucks to over $12k for some judges, with The Hon James Allsop AC taking the cake for the boujeest farewell. Think duck wraps and smoked salmon blinis: AFR

• In a pre-budget submission to Treasury, mining companies have warned that Australia’s economic reputation is “under significant threat” and are urging the Albo to consider nuclear energy and uranium mining. The MCA wants legislative bans lifted, citing concerns over rising, uncompetitive energy costs: The Australian

• Melbourne’s Toorak estate, Coonac, just set a new record as Australia’s most expensive home, selling for around $150m, beating Sydney’s previous record by ~$20m: AFR

TREASURY

DEAL ROOM

Gold raisings on the up

• Fund managers are predicting a surge in capital-raising this year, thanks to a gold price rally. And it’s already underway. Gold junior Pantoro is gearing up for a non-deal roadshow with Canaccord Genuity, hoping to charm fund managers. ASX-listed Catalyst Metals also hit up brokers last week as part of its own non-deal roadshow: AFR

• And in more cap raising news, Generation Development is set to buy asset consultant Evidentia Group for $320m funded by an equity raising: Professional Planner

• Patronus Resources has this morning announced an on-market takeover of Matsa Resources for $0.045 cash per share, implying a value of $33m. Patronus already holds 19.57% of Matsa’s shares.

• Kiwi investor Morrison’s joined the Zenith Energy bidding war, tapping JPMorgan for help. They’re now up against KKR (Gresham), EQT Partners (UBS), and Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners (Jefferies). All four submitted their first-round offers last week: AFR

• FIRB’s playing the deal blocker again. Lightsource bp’s $813m sale of five major solar farms to a Chinese government-backed firm has collapsed, after more than a year-long delay to secure FIRB approval. Now there’s the hunt to find new buyers: AFR

SECTOR SPECIFIC

Dominoes axes stores

🚜 DIGGERS

• Pembroke Resources has secured an $875m loan to expand its Queensland coal mine, signalling renewed interest in fossil fuels. While some banks and insurers are warning to fossil fuels post-Ukraine sanctions, Australia’s big four aren’t diving back in just yet: AFR

• The Federal Government is nearing Senate approval for a $7bn tax incentive to support Australia's critical minerals and rare earths industry, aimed at encouraging local processing and refining: Australian Mining

• The world’s largest EV battery maker, CATL, is restarting lithium mining at its Jiangxi operation, sparking concerns about a lithium oversupply in a market already struggling with low prices. Analyst reports sent Australian lithium stocks like Pilbara Minerals and Liontown Resources slumping 5%: AFR

🏦 FIN

• 2,500 Rest Super members were wrongly charged insurance premiums. Instead of issuing refunds, Rest is making members do the legwork—giving them 35 days to opt out and reclaim their money: The Australian

• Greensill Capital creditors are gunning for the disqualification of Federal Court judge Cameron Moore from overseeing proceedings against IAG, citing potential bias after he previously represented a party involved. Creditors like Credit Suisse and White Oak are looking to recoup $7bn in losses from the firm’s 2021 collapse: AFR

• AMP is launching a new digital-only bank on Monday, aiming to target the pain points for micro-business owners often overlooked by the big players. The bank offers features like numberless debit cards, fraud protection, and accounting tools to streamline banking for entrepreneurs: The Australian

🏡 RETAIL & REAL ESTATE

• Domino’s is closing over 200 stores to slash loss-making locations. The ASX-listed company is closing 172 stores in Japan, with the rest mostly in Europe and four in Australasia. This is one of the first big moves from new CEO Mark van Dyck. And the market responded positively, sending Domino's share price up 22%: AFR

• HVL Hotels has just dropped $25 million to acquire two iconic Hunter Valley wineries—Ben Ean and a Drayton family estate. The plan? Build a $120m five-star hotel and tourism complex on a 68-hectare site in Pokolbin, just two hours from Sydney. The luxury spot will feature 65 rooms, a wedding and function centre, pool, spa, and gym, all nestled among the region’s 180-year-old vineyards. And don’t worry, the wineries will keep producing while the new hospitality venture takes off.

📱 TECH

• WiseTech has confirmed two new confidential complaints against founder and ex-CEO Richard White, despite the board clearing him of misconduct late last year. The complaints, from an employee and a supplier, are now under review. White stepped down as CEO in October following a personal scandal but retained a 10-year consultancy contract. But new reports suggest he hasn’t actually signed the agreement: Capital Brief

• Coinbase is in trouble. The largest US crypto exchange is being sued by customers who claim it illegally sold securities without registering as a broker-dealer: Reuters

• More anti-Deep Seek news. Two US legislators are set to introduce a bill that would ban DeepSeek’s chatbot from US government-issued devices over concerns that the app’s code allegedly has ties to the Chinese Communist Party: AFR

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