Professional Qualifications

Areas of expertise

Kate is a senior legal expert who specialises in commercial property with a particular interest in the hotel industry, property finance and related insolvency and restructuring issues.  Kate has substantial experience in advising blue-chip clients, structuring property and financing transactions and negotiating and drafting transaction documents for both simple and structured transactions for listed clients and high net-worth individuals/ families, as well as public and private investment funds. She regularly advises major banks in connection with property aspects of financing transactions, and her insolvency and restructuring experience covers a range of levels, acting for banks, insolvency practitioners, turnaround specialists and corporates in this field.

Advising KordaMentha in their capacity as receivers of companies associated with:
• Kawarau Village Resort (a partially complete integrated resort development in Queenstown, New Zealand)
• Crafar Farms entities
• Melview Lighter Quay (Westin Auckland) entities
• Acting for BOS International in relation to a number of its distressed property finance positions in New Zealand
• Advising Challenger Listed Investments in connection with its managed funds investment in the New Zealand wine industry
• Advising Grant Thornton as receivers of the entities that own the majority of undeveloped property at Gulf Harbour, Whangaparoa
• Advising Westpac in relation to its secured creditor rights in respect of a leasehold/sub-leasehold structure at Albany City, including consideration of inter-creditor issues and the unwinding of complex, ground lease/sub-lease structures
• Advising Babcock & Brown in relation to the proposed acquisition of a portfolio of properties from the government of Nauru and providing property assistance in relation to mezzanine financing in New South Wales and Victoria
• Acting for Investec Bank in its capacity as mezzanine financier for an assortment of property loans
• Advising the Multiplex Development Opportunity Fund on acquisitions/investments and drafting and negotiating the transaction documents including development agreements, development management agreements, risk participation agreements, loan agreements, share sale/purchase agreements, lease and lease-back arrangements and asset sale and purchase agreements
• Assisting ING Industrial Fund in the acquisition and subsequent development of a number of large industrial assets in New South Wales and Victoria; negotiating asset sale agreements; general leasing advice and assistance
• Acting for Macquarie Bank's forestry and agricultural managed funds in relation to the acquisition and on-going management of large parcels of rural land, which involved drafting agreements for sale and purchase from original vendors and for on-sale to the various fund entities; drafting management agreements for property; drafting forestry leases; negotiating for the acquisition of water rights and advising on day-to-day issues
• Acting for the Besen family in the sale of its 50% interest in Highpoint Shopping Centre and the management rights for the Centre, including preparing tender documents, reviewing tender responses and negotiating the asset sale and purchase agreements and a variety of agreements for the on-going management and ownership of the Centre

• Property Recoveries: What, Where to and How? – co-presented with Grant Graham (KordaMentha) at 10th Annual Corporate Insolvency Conference, Auckland (March, 2011)
• Optimal Management of Industrial Relations Risk in Construction Contracts in Victoria - Masters thesis (LLM), University of Melbourne, Faculty of Law (2004)