International insulation contractor Kaefer Integrated Services has launched legal action against Perth-based consultancy MSP Engineering over a $1 million debt.
International insulation contractor Kaefer Integrated Services has launched legal action against Perth-based consultancy MSP Engineering over a $1 million debt for works on Tianqi Lithium’s Kwinana processing plant.
According to a writ filed in the Supreme Court this week, the two parties entered into an agreement by which Kaefer would provide services as part of MSP’s contract with Chinese-owned Tianqi Lithium.
At the time, MSP had just secured two contracts worth almost $45 million for the design and construction of Tianqi’s Kwinana lithium hydroxide processing plants.
Between May 2019 and September 2019, Kaefer carried out various works under the contract, issuing invoices which totalled more than $2.3 million.
But MSP allegedly failed to pay those invoices.
Following a dispute in November 2019, the two parties signed a deed of settlement and release, allegedly agreeing to finalise all claims in connection with the original contract.
Under the terms of the agreement, MSP was required to pay $2.334 million through monthly instalments.
The new agreement was signed around the same time that Tianqi, which had begun experiencing its own financial difficulties, negotiated a payment plan for its debt to MSP.
MSP paid Kaefer $427,901 each month for three months before signing a payment plan for the remaining $1.28 million in July 2020.
According to the information contained in the writ, between July 2020 and November 2020, MSP repaid $200,000 of the debt.
Kaefer is now taking the company to court in a bid to recover the $1.03 million that is allegedly outstanding, as well as interest on the debt and the costs associated with the legal action.
The move comes just three weeks after the Supreme Court ordered Tianqi to repay its $35.8 million debt to MSP for the two design and construction contracts.
Earlier this year, Tianqi's shareholders backed a $1.4 billion deal that allowed Australian nickel producer IGO to aquire a 49 per cent stake in the company's Australian operations.
