Embattled law firm Slater and Gordon pulls Western Bulldogs sponsorship

[Cyberdoggie]

Re: Embattled law firm Slater and Gordon pulls Western Bulldogs sponsorship

They bought out a large English law firm which had a lot more debt attached to it than they realized/had been told about. It looks to me that they saw the sale price and forgot to do their due diligence


Its another shining example of why companies should stick to their core business (what they are supposed to be doing) and leave money making to the banks and financial institutions.

Hehe yeah, you would think being lawyers to begin with would suffice. Those guys charge you just to read an email.

[Axe Man]

Re: Embattled law firm Slater and Gordon pulls Western Bulldogs sponsorship

His son works there.

Patrick Gordon works for Robert Stary I believe, not Slater & Gordon.

http://www.starylaw.com/melbourne-1/patrick-gordon

[Twodogs]

Re: Embattled law firm Slater and Gordon pulls Western Bulldogs sponsorship

Thanks for that TD. So where do you see it going from here for Slater and Gordon?

Don't really know Easty.

I didn't think PG was the "Gordon" part in the Slater and Gordon??

I believe the original Gordon died when his plane went down during a bombing raid in WWII.

[GVGjr]

Re: Embattled law firm Slater and Gordon pulls Western Bulldogs sponsorship

I'm glad some clarity around the S&G sponsorship has been sorted out for everyone. It just goes to prove that one inaccurate report can lead to a heap of speculation.

[F'scary]

Re: Embattled law firm Slater and Gordon pulls Western Bulldogs sponsorship

They bought out a large English law firm which had a lot more debt attached to it than they realized/had been told about. It looks to me that they saw the sale price and forgot to do their due diligence


Its another shining example of why companies should stick to their core business (what they are supposed to be doing) and leave money making to the banks and financial institutions.

I thought what did them in was a stroke of the pen change in a compensation law in the UK that cut the lawyers out.

[Eastdog]

Re: Embattled law firm Slater and Gordon pulls Western Bulldogs sponsorship

Some background about Slater and Gordon

https://www.slatergordon.com.au/firm/our-history

[Eastdog]

Re: Embattled law firm Slater and Gordon pulls Western Bulldogs sponsorship

Hehe yeah, you would think being lawyers to begin with would suffice. Those guys charge you just to read an email.

Yes I've heard that they do charge quite a bit.

[Greystache]

Re: Embattled law firm Slater and Gordon pulls Western Bulldogs sponsorship

I thought what did them in was a stroke of the pen change in a compensation law in the UK that cut the lawyers out.

Yeah that's a pretty accurate back of the envelope assessment. Which lead to a write down of the goodwill on the UK investment and led to S&G being critically over leveraged. This obviously raised concerns with the banks about their ability to service debt, which could in turn lead to a call on it.

[Twodogs]

Re: Embattled law firm Slater and Gordon pulls Western Bulldogs sponsorship

Yeah that's a pretty accurate back of the envelope assessment. Which lead to a write down of the goodwill on the UK investment and led to S&G being critically over leveraged. This obviously raised concerns with the banks about their ability to service debt, which could in turn lead to a call on it.

Not many companies would recover to hit like this I wouldn't think.

[Greystache]

Re: Embattled law firm Slater and Gordon pulls Western Bulldogs sponsorship

Not many companies would recover to hit like this I wouldn't think.

It's going to be very difficult, especially as it's a highly mature business with limited revenue upside prospects in its primary markets. The positive is its core business is still profitable which could make it an acquisition target, or they may be able to do some debt restructuring with their syndicated debt providers, but in reality they're in some trouble. The biggest problem is they would have nothing like the assets required to cover their obligations, and that's a problem for all parties involved.

[bulldogtragic]

Re: Embattled law firm Slater and Gordon pulls Western Bulldogs sponsorship

It's going to be very difficult, especially as it's a highly mature business with limited revenue upside prospects in its primary markets. The positive is its core business is still profitable which could make it an acquisition target, or they may be able to do some debt restructuring with their syndicated debt providers, but in reality they're in some trouble. The biggest problem is they would have nothing like the assets required to cover their obligations, and that's a problem for all parties involved.

Getting hit with a class action by Maurice Blackburn isn't going to help.

[Greystache]

Re: Embattled law firm Slater and Gordon pulls Western Bulldogs sponsorship

Getting hit with a class action by Maurice Blackburn isn't going to help.

I don't take that to seriously. Ambulance chasers trying to get publicity over their ambulance chasing peer. You don't have a case just because you lose your investment, but I doubt the sort of people signing up would get that.

There's questions about whether they willfully ignored the advice of their M&A advisor, but that's not a crime, and you could easily argue their EBITDA multiple of 6.9 is insane, but again that's not necessarily a crime. MB would need to prove they knew Quindell had questionable accounting practices that could impact its market value, but it's unlikely they did given it's crippled S&G in turn, whether they ignored some obvious warning signs is probably what will be tested in a hearing.

[bulldogtragic]

Re: Embattled law firm Slater and Gordon pulls Western Bulldogs sponsorship

I don't take that to seriously. Ambulance chasers trying to get publicity over their ambulance chasing peer. You don't have a case just because you lose your investment, but I doubt the sort of people signing up would get that.

There's questions about whether they willfully ignored the advice of their M&A advisor, but that's not a crime, and you could easily argue their EBITDA multiple of 6.9 is insane, but again that's not necessarily a crime. MB would need to prove they knew Quindell had questionable accounting practices that could impact its market value, but it's unlikely they did given it's crippled S&G in turn, whether they ignored some obvious warning signs is probably what will be tested in a hearing.

The major distraction, bad PR, the costs, time of personnel to defend it, barristorial costs etc... win, lose or draw that's just one more problem. If MB can cripple SG, that leaves them the biggest, strongest and major trade union lawyer firm by a fair way. There's great money with union clients.

[Remi Moses]

Re: Embattled law firm Slater and Gordon pulls Western Bulldogs sponsorship

Ambulance chasers . Feels like I'm reading an Andrew Bolt article

[Greystache]

Re: Embattled law firm Slater and Gordon pulls Western Bulldogs sponsorship

Ambulance chasers . Feels like I'm reading an Andrew Bolt article

What a valuable contribution. Perhaps should could draw upon your incredible intellect and business experience to enlighten the WOOF community as to the situation at S&G?