afr today not looking good, page-3

From todays AFR:

Banks put crisis team into Allco
James Chessell and Eric Johnston, with Ben Wilmot



Allco Finance Group lenders, including Commonwealth Bank of Australia, have asked Ferrier Hodgson to examine the troubled companys accounts amid fears over its ability to refinance a major loan facility in May. Allco Finance, which is due to release its interim result tomorrow, saw trading in its shares suspended indefinitely yesterday. Before the shares went into a trading halt on Monday, Allcos share price had recovered to $3.05 from a low of $1.70 on January 23. Observers now suggest executive chairman David Coe, who founded the company 20 years ago and has former Telstra chief executive Bob Mansfield and former British Airways chief executive Rod Eddington on the Allcos board, may have to sell some of the groups property and leasing assets as it attempts to claw its way out of its problems. Macquarie Group, whose new chief executive Nicholas Moore is close to Mr Coe, is considered a potential buyer of parts of the business.

The two companies had orchestrated an eventually unsuccessful takeover attempt on Qantas Airways last year. The list of prospective buyers for Allco Finances aircraft fleet includes, besides Macquarie, Babcock & Brown, General Electric Co, Terra Firma and the Liberman family. Allco Finance shares dived last month when the related Allco Principals Investments Trust received a margin call and offloaded $60 million worth of stock. Also badly hit were satellite funds of Allco acquisition Rubicon, although these funds are still trading on the Australian Stock Exchange.