Court grants Dyldam liquidators extra time to chase recoveries

The Federal Court has given liquidators of the Dyldam Group a much-deserved lifeline, granting them until March 2027 to pursue potential voidable-transaction claims amid one of Australia’s most sprawling property collapses. Justice Jackman accepted that the liquidations of about a dozen Dyldam-linked companies had been hampered by missing records, uncooperative directors, and a maze of intercompany loans across a network of some 300 related entities.

Liquidators David Mansfield and Robert Woods of Deloitte told the Court that progress had been stymied by a lack of funding, fragmented appointments across the Dyldam Group, and limited access to the companies’ books and email servers. The ATO alone is chasing over $20 million from the group, with roughly $94 million owed across their wider appointments. Funding to advance investigations only emerged in July 2025 and was approved in September 2025—prompting the application for an extension before the statutory deadline expired.

Justice Jackman reaffirmed that section 588FF(3)(b) empowers courts to mitigate the “rigours of the time limits imposed” where fairness demands flexibility. The Court weighed commercial certainty for past counterparties against the interests of unpaid creditors and found the balance clearly favoured giving the liquidators more time.

Read the decision here. The liquidators were represented by John Anderson of Eight Selborne (instructed by Bridges Lawyers).