Jennifer Ball

Practice Areas

A leading commercial litigator with specialist expertise in insolvency and restructuring in sectors ranging from mining and industrial manufacture, telco, aged care, pharmaceutical, to construction as well as shareholder litigation. Jennifer's work is widely acknowledged involving all forms of commercial dispute resolution, including litigation in all court jurisdictions, negotiations and mediation. Jennifer also assists corporates as well as insolvency appointees in relation to both contentious and transactional matters and often at short notice has obtained urgent freezing orders to assist in recoveries. Jennifer also regularly advises boards in relation to the financial restructuring or turnaround of distressed companies proactively identifying and advising on the full spectrum of legal issues in a restructure scenario.

Work Highlights

• Advised GFG Alliance and SIMEC ZEN Energy on risk matrix issues in preparation of a proposed sustainable infrastructure partnership with the state of Victoria for a renewable energy with solar, wind and firming assets as a future sustainable power solution with Victoria's Portland smelter.

• Advising the shareholders and directors in the Karem Pharmaceutical Group in relation to a financial debt restructure and its borrowings with Australian Pharmaceutical Industries.

• Lead Advisor of cross disciplinarian team to the board of Arrium Limited on the company's strategic review and $1.2b recapitalisation plan, which included the Whyalla Steelworks located in South Australia.

• Advised Vocation Limited on its successful restructuring of $85 million of debt which stabilised the company's finances which allowed Vocation to commence its turnaround plan.

• Acted for and advised OneSteel Manufacturing Pty Ltd and Tahmoor Coal Pty Ltd, the defendants in successfully defending a winding up application filed by Citibank N.A (London Branch) in the Supreme Court of New South Wales.

• Advised Accor Hotels in relation to the successful defence of various claims made against it by the liquidator appointed to Vantage Automotive for voidable transactions.

• Acted for and advised shareholder AT Roberts Holdings Pty Ltd (a subsidiary of Roberts Co)in relation to a shareholder dispute with Pizzarotti SA, (formerly Impresa Pizzarotti & C.S.p.A), under a shareholders deed which involved the negotiation of a satisfactory resolution of the dispute over a shareholder contribution of A$100million.

• Assisted a team in relation to the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry, including in relation to responses to notices for production of documents and review of thousands of documents produced to the Commission.

• Acting for and advising Biodiversity Sub TC Pty Ltd as trustee for Biodiversity Sub Trust (a subsidiary of Blackstone Group Inc.) in Supreme Court proceedings in Victoria involving 11 other parties and a claim for rectification and damages of a property more than $120M.

• Advised and acted for KPMG the provisional liquidators and subsequent court appointed liquidators appointed by the Supreme Court of New South Wales to a number of the companies within the group of companies operating the Pages Event Hire business in relation to the successful sale of assets of two of the event hire companies and a sale of the business.

Industry Sector Expertise

• Litigation and Dispute Resolution

• Restructuring and Insolvency

• Aged care and retirement property trusts

• Director's duties and board advisory

• Receiverships

• Safe harbour plans and ipso facto

• Shareholder disputes

• Voluntary administrations

• Enforcement of security interests

• Mediation and arbitration