According to local media reports, the legal move by FTI Consulting to remove KordaMentha and Calibre Capital as joint trustees of LM’s Managed Performance Fund was described by chief justice Paul de Jersey as “an unhelpful intrusion” done to “pursue [FTI’s] own agenda” and said its application had not benefited the fund’s members.
KordaMentha and Calibre Capital were appointed at the beginning of last month.
Justice de Jersey also ordered FTI Consulting to pay indemnity costs after its application failed.
Local reports said legal sources estimate the costs, combined with FTI’s own legal bill, could reach A$500,000 (US$480,000, £320,000).
As reported, LM Investment Management was placed into voluntary administration on 18 March. The action was said by the company to have been necessary to "safeguard the best interests" of the company’s investors.
These are understood to include investors in more than 73 countries, as the company had representative offices in New Zealand, Hong Kong, Bangkok, London, Dubai and South Africa in addition to its head office in Australia. Most, if not all, of these regional offices are understood to have closed down or be in the process of being closed.
On 9 April, ASIC announced it had suspended the Australian financial services (AFS) licence of LMIM for two years.
Click here to read a list of other failed funds from recent years
