Alita Group - Case Update

Rob Kirman and Rob Brauer of McGrathNicol have given an update on their administration of the Alita Group, a Perth-based miner whose primary asset is a lithium mine in Western Australia. The group has been subject to insolvency proceedings since 2019. In December 2020, Austroid, a Chinese-linked company, purchased the group’s debt and became its secured creditor. It subsequently appointed KordaMentha as receivers and McGrathNicol as administrators of the group and proposed a DOCA that would see its debt exchanged for equity. To date, the DOCA has not been effectuated due to outstanding conditions precedent, including the approval of Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board. On 20 July, the Australian government made an order pursuant to the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act prohibiting Austroid from increasing its ownership in Alita. Considering this to be a material change in circumstances, the administrators have now commenced a court application to place Alita in liquidation and complete a sale of the mine to an unrelated third party.