As media attention begins to slow following the release of Justice Neville Owen’s royal commission report into the failure of HIH, creditors of the company have been told to expect between 10 and 20 cents in every dollar they are owed by next March.

In an interview with Channel Nine’s Business Sunday, HIH liquidator Tony McGrath said about $900 million of the lost $5.3 billion has been recovered from the sale of fixed assets. But he warned the recovery of full dividends will be a drawn-out process taking between five and seven years. It will be a further three to six months before the scheme of arrangement can be put to creditors, and the process will start from then.

“From here on in, the remaining assets we have to collect are far more illiquid and take some time and they’re assets like recoveries we might have against third parties, and the ultimate collection of the reinsurance asset does take many, many years to unravel,” Mr McGrath said.

Court proceedings have been filed against the Federal Government, HIH actuary David Slee, auditor Arthur Anderson and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority. Mr McGrath says that although no other proceedings have yet been filed, he has a “range” of targets to consider including HIH directors and executives.

He said that Allianz owes about $125 million after it agreed to buy HIH out of a joint venture before the collapse. Apparently the reason for the prolonged settlement is “issues to do with GST”, but the matter is likely to be resolved in the next two to three months.

Mr McGrath said pursuing claims against auditors Andersen would be difficult because of the collapse. He said they may have had insurance but didn’t want to delve into litigation that may take up to 10 years.

Brad Cooper, former associate of FAI MD and HIH director Rodney Alder, owes HIH about $10 million personally, Mr McGrath said. Mr Cooper is one of his key targets because he owes money directly to the company.

“We’ve got bits of it back – nothing major,” he said. “We’re working down a process now of collecting from the companies which he controls… or seeking the winding up of those companies.”