When a company enters voluntary administration, creditors are ultimately being asked to decide something more human than financial: do they trust the people running the business enough to keep working with them?

In this episode, Olvera Advisors Principals Kate Barnet and Damien Hodgkinson sit down with Masi Zaki, Partner and head of the restructuring team at Bird & Bird, to unpack what actually makes a Deed of Company Arrangement (DOCA) succeed.

They cover why average DOCA dividends rarely drive the creditor vote, why director accountability at the first creditors meeting can make or break a deal, and why the businesses that get the best outcomes are the ones planning for a deed long before a voluntary administrator is ever appointed.

The conversation ranges from headline-making examples like Virgin Australia and Arrium through to small subcontractors, from wind-down scenarios where the business itself doesn't survive but real value is still preserved, to a candid discussion of how AI-driven structural change is likely to reshape thecauses of business failure, and why the flexibility of a DOCA may be exactly the tool businesses need to navigate it.

Whether you're a director, creditor, or advisor, this episode offers a practical, experience-led look at what separates a deed that works from one that doesn't.

Listen now, and read Olvera's Practical Guide to Directors on Executing Deeds of Company Arrangement for more.