b'At its peak, Skases business owned five resortsincludingseat on the board, with the intention of proceeding to an the Mirage resorts in Port Douglas and on the Gold Coast outright takeover. The other members of the BHP board did and held interests in the Seven Network and the Brisbanenot believe the takeover was in the interests of shareholders Bears Football Club. Feez Ruthning advised Qintex on aand mounted a strenuous and lengthy campaign opposing variety of projects including the establishment of the it. They were ultimately successful in resisting Bell Groups two Mirage resorts. attempts to gain control of the company. Arthur Robinson& Hedderwicks advised BHP on the takeover defence. As with Bond, the collapse of global stock markets in 1987 hit Skase hard. By 1989 it was clear his business was inHalf a dozen partners worked on the defence full-time for serious trouble. Allen Allen & Hemsley advised the syndicatetwo years. The matter was commenced by Arthur Robinson of banks that had funded the Qintex business ventures. The& Co and continued by the newly merged Arthur Robinson & syndicate was alarmed by the companys rapid demise andHedderwicks. Neither firm would have been able to mobilise eventually moved to appoint receivers. Skase met the newsenough lawyers on its own. At one stage, I think we had with silence. He was subsequently charged with improperlyabout ten pieces of litigation running against Bell, in the using his position to pay himself management fees.Federal Court of Australia, the Supreme Court of Western Following his arrest, and after spending a night in jail, heAustralia, the Supreme Court of Victoria, and the High Court fled to Majorca. All attempts to have him extradited failed.of Australia, and we had proceedings running in the United Skase died in 2001 owing millions. States, partner Colin Galbraith recalls.Robert HolmesCourtthe great acquirerThe successful takeover defence was of a scale and In Melbourne, Arthur Robinson & Co was kept busy byintensity not previously seen in Australia and established Robert HolmesCourt. A lawyer by training, he becamethe newly merged firm as a leader in the field.Australias first billionaire, rising to prominence through a series of high-profile corporate takeovers. Despite mixedWhen international stock markets crashed in October 1987, success in acquiring his targets, HolmesCourt emergedHolmesCourts personal net worth dropped $440 million from most deals in a stronger financial position, havingin one day. When Merrill Lynch withdrew a $1 billion loan driven up the share price of the target company.facility, HolmesCourt had little choice but to accept a joint takeover for Bell Group from Bond Corporation and In 1985 HolmesCourt commenced his most ambitiousthe State Government Insurance Commission. In 1990 he takeover attempt, targeting Australias largest companysuffered a heart attack and died, leaving assets worth onlyBHP. The Big Australian, as BHP was known, had been aa fraction of what they had been a few years earlier.longstanding client of Arthur Robinson & Co. Arthur Robinson & Hedderwicks had just finalised BHPs acquisition of UtahOnce Bond Corporation had control of Bell Group, Alan International, for which Business Review Weekly magazineBond siphoned $1.2 billion from Bell Resources to coverhad credited partner Tony Browne as having pulled offthe debts of his company Bond Corporationthe move one of the most intricate financing deals in the world. that landed him in jail.HolmesCourt acquired BHP shares through his company Bell Group. By 1986 he held a 29.93 per cent share and a 186'