The New South Wales Supreme Court has ordered the appointment of provisional liquidators to 12 companies associated with NSW accountant and former solicitor Christopher Malcolm Edwards following an application by ASIC.
ASIC sought the appointment of provisional liquidators (26-054MR) following concerns about the management and affairs of:
- Ironbark Holdings Australia Pty Ltd
- Great Northern Developments Pty Ltd
- GND Construction Management Pty Ltd
- Great Northern Bundaberg Pty Ltd
- Great Northern Investments Pty Ltd
- Great Northern Morayfield Pty Ltd
- Great Northern Phoenix Group Pty Ltd
- Great Northern Properties Pty Ltd
- Great Northern Victoria Pty Ltd
- Ironbark Energy Pty Ltd
- Knightsbridge Realty Pty Ltd, and
- Richmond Corporation Pty Ltd.
ASIC’s interim application was heard on 19 August 2026 before Justice Nixon. On 21 August 2026, the Court appointed Kathryn Evans and Vaughan Strawbridge of FTI Consulting as provisional liquidators of the 12 companies. The provisional liquidators are required to report to the Court and to ASIC within 10 weeks on matters which include:
- the assets and liabilities of the companies, including the value and recoverability of assets
- an opinion as to solvency of the companies and the likely return to creditors if the companies are wound up
- any suspected contraventions of the Corporations Act or ASIC Act and any transactions needing further investigation, and
- whether the companies should be returned to the control of their directors, proceed to liquidation, or follow another course.
Justice Nixon found that the affairs of the companies ‘have been carried on casually and without due regard to legal requirements, and that there are significant deficiencies in the Companies’ financial records, so as to leave the Court without confidence that the Companies’ affairs will be properly conducted with due regard for the interests of creditors and, in particular, investors’.
His Honour also accepted ASIC’s submissions that the evidence ‘supports an inference that payments to investors have, for the most part, not been met by any income generated by the Companies but instead have been met from funds invested from new investors, or by borrowings on unknown terms'.
ASIC submitted that the companies which have liabilities to investors appear not to have the means to meet those liabilities and are operating an unsustainable business model.
Justice Nixon said that appointing provisional liquidators ‘will preserve the status quo, prevent the dissipation of assets prior to the final hearing of the winding up application, ensure that no further funds are raised from investors, and ensure, in the public interest, that suitably skilled and independent persons investigate the Companies’ records, transactions, assets and liabilities, and report back to the Court and ASIC on those matters’.
The proceeding is listed to return to court on 2 November 2026 for a hearing to give directions in relation to ASIC’s winding up application.
Information for creditors and investors is available on the provisional liquidators’ website Ironbark Holdings Australia Pty Ltd (Provisional Liquidators’ Appointed).
ASIC’s investigation into Mr Edwards and entities associated with him is ongoing.
Any person who wants to provide information to ASIC to assist its investigation can contact ASIC at Edwards.investigation@asic.gov.au.
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Background
ASIC’s investigation commenced in September 2021.
On 13 December 2022, search warrants were executed on Mr Edwards’s business premises during which materials were seized.
Subsequently, Mr Edwards commenced two court proceedings which had the effect of preventing ASIC from reviewing the seized materials until after those proceedings were finally resolved in January 2025.
On 18 September 2024, Mr Edwards discontinued one of the proceedings, with the other proceeding dismissed by consent on 22 January 2025.
On 12 September 2025 ASIC made an order under ss920A and 920B of the Corporations Act banning Mr Edwards for a period of 10 years from providing financial services, controlling an entity that carries on a financial services business, or performing any function involved in carrying on a financial services business. Mr Edwards has applied to the Administrative Review Tribunal to review ASIC’s decision to ban him from providing financial services. This application for review is ongoing.
On 25 March 2026, ASIC commenced winding up proceedings in the NSW Supreme Court to wind up 12 companies associated with Mr Edwards (26-054MR), including an interlocutory application for the appointment of provisional liquidators to the companies.
Effective from 28 May 2026 ASIC disqualified Mr Edwards from being a self-managed superannuation fund auditor (26-170MR).