2020 Economic Outlook

Christine Christian

Chairman, Kirwood Capital

Christine Christian is a business executive and entrepreneur with more than 30 years’ experience in financial services, investment, private equity, credit risk, data management, digital media and publishing. Her career includes senior executive and advisory roles in Australia, China, India and the United States.

Christine is currently Chairman of Kirwood Capital and Deputy Chair and Director of FlexiGroup Limited. She is a Non-Executive Director of ME Bank Limited and Lonsec Fiscal Group.  She is Deputy President and Board member of the State Library of Victoria and serves on the boards of La Trobe University and the Cranlana Programme.

Previously, Christine was CEO of Dun & Bradstreet Australia and New Zealand from 1997 to 2011. In 2006, she was appointed to the additional roles of Chair of D&B Consumer Credit Services (JV between Dun & Bradstreet and Macquarie Bank), the D&B Worldwide Board, and in 2010 was appointed Executive Director of Dun & Bradstreet India. Christine was a Director of Victorian Managed Insurance Authority (VMIA), Scottish Pacific Business Finance, a board member and Committee Chair of UNICEF Australia, and a member of the State-Government-appointed TAFE Assessment Panel and the ASIC Business Advisory Council. She was the Founding Chair of the Business Information Industry Association – Hong Kong and Middle East, and Director until 2012. She was co-founder and Director of New York–based Powerlinx Inc., an innovator in the emerging partner economy. Christine is a member and past-president of Chief Executive Women.

Lachlan Edwards

Managing Director & Founder, Faraday Associates

Lachlan founded Faraday Associates in July 2018 having been at Lazard Australia for five years where he was the Co-Head of the Corporate Advisory business. Lachlan also serves as a Non-Executive Director on the board of Hotel Property Investments (ASX: HPI), a position he has held since November 2013; is a Non-Executive Director of the Bell Shakespeare Company; and is the Chairman of the Turnaround Management Association in Australia having been its President from January 2016 to June 2018.

Prior to joining Lazard he was at Goldman Sachs where he was a Managing Director and Head of Restructuring (Asia-Pacific) based in Sydney for five years (including three years as a Partner of Goldman Sachs JB Were) and prior to that was a Managing Director and Head of Restructuring (Europe) in London from 2006-2008. He joined Goldman from NM Rothschild & Sons in London having been a Managing Director since 1 July, 2005 and Co-Head of Restructuring (Europe) as well as Co-Head of the Corporate Debt Advisory Team (UK).

Lachlan was at Rothschild Australia in Sydney from 1990-2000 working in Project Finance (Indonesia & PNG) during 1996-2001, Australian Credit & Risk for Banking and Treasury from 1992-1996 and as an Executive in Corporate Lending from 1990-1992. He started his banking career at Samuel Montagu & Co/Midland Bank in London from 1988-1990 and prior to that worked as a graduate in Marketing at IBM Australia in Sydney from 1987-1988.

Lachlan has advised governments, boards, management teams and creditors on some of the world’s largest corporate situations including the restructuring of Royal Ahold’s €40bn of debt, the Northern Rock £125bn balance sheet, and Babcock & Brown Group’s $66bn of debt. He has worked on some of the world’s most complex transactions including the restructuring of Eurotunnel PLC/SA and Vivendi Universal. He has structured a number of innovative transactions including the financing and the redevelopment of the Port Pirie Lead smelter for Nyrstar, the combination of the Redcape and the National Leisure & Gaming businesses, and the only gold loan project financing in Indonesia for the Gunung Pongkor mine owned by PT Aneka Tambang. He has advised on the sale of a variety of assets as diverse as Cubbie Station, Rivercity Motorway, a performing portfolio of loans by Bank of Scotland International and the base metal assets of OZ Minerals Ltd to China MinMetals Corporation. He has also advised on the restructuring of a wide range of Australian public and private companies including Elders, Timbercorp, Valad and Devine.

In more recent years, Lachlan has advised on the purchase on a non-performing loan portfolio, advice to the Board of Cross City Tunnel, and the restructuring of Nine Entertainment, Horizon Oil, Atlas Iron, Arrium and Wolf Minerals. He has advised Nyrstar on a revision to the Port Pirie funding package and a new package for its Hobart Smelter, Paladin Resources and St Barabara Mines with respect to their capital structures and the Ramsay Healthcare acquisition of Generale de Sante and its financing.

David Rumbens

Partner, Deloitte Access Economics