Hi MB and others....
The VA acts on behalf of all creditors ie. secured, unsecured creditors as well as equity holders. While the Receivers/Managers act on behalf of secured creditors (ie. Macquarie Bank).
The fact is that Macquarie has a fixed and floating charge which is like a company mortgage over all the assets of Copperco. So the Receiver holds the reins on just about all the important and valuable activities. But there is an obligation to proceed to operate the company in good faith unless/until a decision is made to liquidate. So in this environment, I expect that between the Receivers and Administrators they are negotiating with all creditors to maintain operations pending a report to creditors.
I think it is likely to be decided fairly quickly that the best solution is to continue to operate the Lady Annie mine to achieve the best outcomes for stakeholders. But we need to wait and see. Keeping staff is the biggest problem in these situations, so a sale of the mine is obviously a possibility.
I believe that effectively the early appointment of administrators provides the directors with a defense against the trading while insolvent charges that could have otherwise have been brought. It seems a wait and see situation right now given the strong legal position that a secured creditor like Macquarie Bank possesses. I would appreciate anyone else adding their two bobs worth on my simple description of the situation.
regards
DF
CUO
copperco limited
