Peter Bond, who founded Linc Energy 20 years ago, said it was tough to learn that it had fallen in to administration last Friday
an hour ago
Anthony MarxThe Courier-Mail
Peter Bond says Linc Energy falling into administration “doesn’t make sense”. Picture: File
SHAKEN, NOT STIRRED
WATCHING the company you founded face possible collapse can’t be easy, especially if you’ve still got a big stake in it but are no longer in the driver’s seat.
Just ask wealthy Brisbane bizoid Peter Bond . The man who launched now-embattled Linc Energy 20 years ago admitted to City Beat yesterday that it was tough to learn that it had fallen into administration.
“I haven’t worked there for a year. I’m still a shareholder so emotionally I’m still working through it,’’ Bond said.
“You spend all those years building something so it’s difficult to watch anything that goes the way you don’t want it to go.’’
Bond, who left the board in December, said the appointment of PPB Advisory “doesn’t make sense’’ since Linc had money in the bank, no pending debt and management was hard at work on a restructure.
But he’s got to be worried, since he still owns 35 per cent of the stock and held a meeting yesterday with some of his key advisers.
“I was reasonably well off before Linc and if you had asked me as a 25-year-old whether I would be happy with a big house by the water, Aston Martins in the garage and an aeroplane and a tropical island I would have said ‘F--- yeah!’”
The question is what impact the disaster could have on Bond’s ambitious and well-advanced plans to redevelop Dunk Island into a luxurious spa resort.
“I haven’t had a chance to think about it,’’ he said.
Even if Linc is resurrected, it faces a tough future. The company is staring at fines of up to $8 million for allegedly contaminating 175sq km of prime farmland in southern Queensland and a possible class action. Linc has denied any wrongdoing.
LNC Price at posting:
99.5¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held
