Note the last paragraph about leases and where all the leases...

Note the last paragraph about leases and where all the leases are




Article from: Weekly Times
Bid for MIS assets fails

October 16, 2009
A LAST-ditch effort to keep 8000ha of land and 40,000 megalitres of water in Australian hands has failed.

And a Timbercorp Growers' Group director blames liquidator KordaMentha, which she claimed has a conflict of interest.

Singapore corporate giant Olam International entered an agreement with KordaMentha two weeks ago to buy more than 8000ha of almonds and 40,000 megalitres of water following a tender process.

Olam tendered $128 million. The land had been valued at $275 million without the water, now worth about $100 million.

Timbercorp growers last week put up a late bid of $200 million, conditional on finance, to liquidator KordaMentha late last week but the Olam bid was approved by the Supreme Court on Friday.

TGG director Kerree Bezencon said the growers had been "thwarted" by KordaMentha's failure to supply the necessary details to the growers' group.

She said the group had requested details in order to frame a bid in July but they did not arrive until September, when the deadline for bids had passed.

"It's not good enough by a long shot," she said.

Ms Bezencon said KordaMentha had a conflict of interest "acting for two masters" banks and investors and had compromised the investors' needs.

But KordaMentha spokesman Mike Smith said managing competing interests was common for liquidators.

"All bidders who entered due diligence were given equal access to information in a formal data room," he said. "The time pressure for a sale was intense because the assets were wasting."

The Supreme Court was satisfied with KordaMentha's process, he said.

Meanwhile, landowners with 5000ha of land contracted to Timbercorp have missed having their leases taken over by new company Global Forest Partners, which bought the assets.

The company did not take on the leases due to the poor quality of the trees or the unsuitability of the land for forestry. All the leases were in Western Australia.