Australia's takeover regulator declined a request from Oaktree Capital Management and Centerbridge Partners to delay a $359 million refinancing deal surfwear for company Billabong International Ltd on anti-trust concerns, Reuters reported yesterday. The two U.S. hedge funds, whose own refinancing proposals were rebuffed by Billabong, had asked the Takeovers Panel to intervene in the deal with Altamont Capital Partners because some elements, including a hefty break fee, were "anti-competitive and coercive". The panel declined to stop the sale but would still investigate the deal.

Australia's largest organic poultry farm, Inglewood Farms, has gone into receivership owing $60 million, The Chronicle reported. The announcement was made following news the company's directors wanted to resign after shareholders indicated that they would not provide additional funding to support ongoing operations. The company, which is a subsidiary of RM Williams, employs about 100 people and operates on a 1710 hectare property near Inglewood.

Insolvency experts are predicting more pain to come over the next six to 12 months as the shakeout in Australia's mining sector takes hold, ABC News reported. Restructuring firm Ernst & Young is expecting to see more receiverships and distressed sales as miners end their investment and construction phase to focus on production. The forecast comes after almost half of the listed companies exposed to mining services issued profit downgrades as projects are deferred and market conditions falter.

Kevin Rudd is ditching the optimism of his predecessor and selling himself as the best leader to steer Australia through a downturn as Chinese demand wanes, Bloomberg reported. The new prime minister, who ousted Julia Gillard last week as the ruling Labor party headed toward a landslide election loss, is channeling his ex-boss Ross Garnaut in flagging that the end of a China-led mining boom could lead to a recession.

Creditors are expected to support a rescue plan for Spring Gully Foods that will hand back control of the 60-year-old company to the Webb family, News.com.au reported. About 300 creditors will meet tomorrow to consider an offer for full payment of debts, saving the company from collapse and lifting it out of administration. The company will put forward a Deed of Company Agreement that would see all creditors paid 100c in the dollar with an initial down payment and regular quarterly payments until the debt is finalised.

Creditors of Apex Minerals have finally called time on Ed Eshuys' attempt to revive the struggling gold producer, with receivers appointed to the company overnight, The West Australian reported. A last ditch attempt to borrow more money to keep the company afloat appears to have failed, with one of the company's major secured creditor - RF Capital, the family company of Multiplex heir Andrew Roberts - last night appointing Pitcher Partners as administrators and Ferrier Hodgson as receivers.

Early investigations into the collapse of fashion brand Lisa Ho have found that a combination of questionable operating decisions, bad market conditions and "accounting irregularities" affected the viability and the cashflow of the retailer, which has imploded with debts of nearly $11 million, The Australian reported. Lisa Ho Designs and Lisa Ho Retail went into voluntary administration on May 8, less than a month after the company abandoned a listing on the National Stock Exchange, where funds raised were to have been be used to expand the fashion brand offshore and online.

Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan will eschew European-style austerity as a stronger currency slows growth, wagering the government can win a Sept. 14 election fought on jobs and absorb the pain of a broken surplus promise, Bloomberg reported. The underlying cash deficit will be A$18 billion ($17.9 billion) in the 12 months to June 30, 2014, Swan said in Canberra yesterday as he released the federal budget.

After all the promises by the federal government to clean up the insolvency industry, a report released on Wednesday by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission indicates that things are getting worse, not better, The Age reported in a commentary. There are 682 liquidators in Australia and a report by ASIC into the supervision of the profession reveals that it received 437 reports of alleged misconduct involving registered liquidators in the past year, which is up slightly on last year's 426 complaints.

Liquidators of Nathan Tinkler's Mulsanne Resources were given the go-ahead by the court to sue the struggling Australian tycoon for allegedly letting Mulsanne trade while insolvent, said one of Tinkler's creditors, Blackwood Corp., Reuters reported. Blackwood is trying to recover A$28.4 million ($29.5 million) that Tinkler's private company Mulsanne agreed to pay last year for a one-third stake in the coal explorer. As a result of the claim, a court late last year appointed liquidators to wind up Mulsanne.