Five eye Brierty’s business after $40m collapse Peter...

Five eye Brierty’s business after $40m collapse
Peter WilliamsFriday, 8 September 2017 10:29AM

KPMG took control of the civil and mining service provider on Wednesday at the request of the board.Picture: WA News
Five companies have expressed interest in potential deals following the circa $40 million collapse of contractor Brierty, according to administrators.

Insolvency specialists from KPMG took control of the civil and mining service provider on Wednesday at the request of Brierty’s board.

“I’ve had approaches from five different parties interested in a transaction with Brierty, which is pleasing given there is still some interest,” KPMG head of restructuring services Matthew Woods said.

“Most but not all of those parties are trade players. We’ll continue to work through with each of those parties,” Mr Woods said.

Some of the interest is understood to relate to acquiring Brierty’s assets, such as equipment, or targeting its biggest mining contract with Rio Tinto.

Mr Woods said his goal was to maintain as much of the business as a going concern and progress a rescue plan.

“The objective is to maximise the chance of Brierty surviving and continuing,” he said.

Brierty teams were continuing work on contracts, including Rio’s Western Turner Syncline mine, and no employees had been made redundant.

Mr Woods said the administrators were looking to renegotiate some unprofitable civil contracts, which could potentially cease if they continued draining cash.

He said Brierty’s debt would not be materially different to the $43 million at June 30 reported in its unaudited annual results. Bankwest, which extended a $6 million lifeline to the contractor in July, is the biggest creditor.

A first meeting of creditors will be held at KPMG’s Perth offices on Friday next week.

https://thewest.com.au/business/con...tys-business-after-40m-collapse-ng-b88592761z