John Spalvins, born Janis Gunnars Spalvins, in 1936, in Latvia, was Managing Director of the Adelaide Steamship Company from 1977 until the company's collapse in 1991, it was formed by a group of South Australian businessmen in which year?
John Spalvins John Spalvins, born Janis Gunnars Spalvins, in 1936, in Latvia, was Managing Director of the Adelaide Steamship Company from 1977 until the company's collapse in 1991. During this period under Spalvins' control, "AdSteam" became Australia's major corporate entity with interests and significant holdings in retailing, food, wine, dairy, hardware, building, banks, and numerous other companies. "Spalvins built up one of Australia's largest industrial conglomerates, which took in David Jones, Woolworths, Metro Meat, food company Petersville Sleigh, beer and wine company Tooth & Co, as well as a tugboat business, before it was put into receivership in 1991."
HIH Insurance HIH Insurance was Australia's second largest insurance company. It was placed into provisional liquidation on 15 March 2001. The demise of HIH is considered to be the largest corporate collapse in Australia's history, with liquidators estimating that HIH's losses totalled up to $5.3 billion. Investigations into the cause of the collapse have led to conviction and imprisonment of a handful of members of HIH management on various charges relating to fraud.