1. Storm Financial

All eyes were on the Storm Financial fallout in early 2009. Late last year it emerged that clients of the financial planning firm were under increasing threat of margin calls, leading industry figures to question whether the group’s advice was appropriately customised to clients’ needs and objectives.

In December, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) launched an investigation into the group owned by Emmanuel and Julie Cassimatis. By January, Storm had breached its loan covenants with lender Commonwealth Bank. The Bank of Queensland and Macquarie Bank were also implicated in the affair, which saw approximately 3,000 of Storm’s clients affected by the margin calls.

2. Opes Prime

The Opes Prime calamity continued on into 2009. ASIC said in March that it would provide the necessary releases to allow a settlement offer to be extended to investors.

The regulator was continuing investigations into the conduct of Opes Prime’s directors and officers throughout the operation of the business, including the lead-up to the company’s collapse. In August, the courts approved ASIC’s schemes of arrangement to settle the matter.

The banks implicated in the company’s collapse – ANZ and Merrill Lynch – were ordered to pay $226 million to Opes Prime liquidators, bringing the total amount from the settlement and recovered assets available to former investors to $253 million.

3. Timbercorp

Agribusiness managers were among the hardest hit in 2009, with Timbercorp, in a sign of things to come, being the first to crumble under the weight of its debt in April. The group, which had already signalled an end to its managed investment scheme (MIS) models, had its forestry and horticulture operations suspended as it went into voluntary administration.

The liquidators, Mark Korda and Leanne Chesser, sold off the group’s almond assets for $128 million in September – an asset that represented around 30 per cent of the Australian almond crop. The olive assets fetched $59.5 million in October.

4. Great Southern

An estimated 40,000 investors suffered losses when the heavily indebted agricultural investment company went into administration early this year. The Perth-based group was reportedly $700 million in debt and unable to obtain funds from the banks.

As managed investment schemes faced uncertain times in light of the global financial crisis, the company struggled to maintain its forestry, cattle and agricultural projects across Australia.

Investors in the solvent business will be voting this month on who should manage the projects. Several groups have expressed interest in taking on the role of responsible entity, with Gunns and Pulpwood Plantations both making proposals to growers.

5. Westpoint

The clean up of Westpoint continues with ASIC banning a number of advisers in 2009 for their recommendations to invest in Westpoint products. The regulator also accepted enforceable undertakings (EUs) from three partners at KPMG’s Perth office as a result of their involvement in auditing activities relating to Westpoint before its collapse. Brett Charles Fullarton, Robert Charles Kelly and Jonathan Grant Robinson undertook not to practise as registered auditors for specified periods of time, agreeing to participate in further education and be subject to auditing supervision upon reinstatement.

ASIC initiated a separate action against KPMG, seeking financial compensation to repay Westpoint investors for their losses.