Listed agricultural property investment company ARK Fund has been put into voluntary administration, following the path of associated private entity Rewards Group.
ARK Fund advised the ASX today that Kim Strickland and David Hunt of WA Insolvency Solutions had been appointed after National Australia Bank ended an arrangement that had bought the property group time to restructure via a proposed merger with a recapitalised Rewards Group.
Chairman John Kenny told the exchange that the directors of the company had formed the opinion that ARK Fund was likely to become insolvent in the near future.
ARK was advised by NAB on Monday that it had terminated the standstill agreement entered into two months earlier.
The move by the bank follows the collapse in mid May of Rewards Group which was seeking up to $45 million in funds to restructure its debt and exit the volatile retail managed investment scheme market.
That deal involved the merger of the two already intricately linked companies.
Jittery financial markets were blamed for the failure to raise the funds required, despite a cornerstone commitment from a consortium of Sydney-based and Singaporean investors.
On May 16, the directors of Rewards appointed Martin Jones, Darren Weaver and Andrew Saker of specialist insolvency firm Ferrier Hodgson. A week later the NAB put the company into receivership.
Apart from tenant-landlord relationship, Rewards Group and ARK Fund had developed significant corporate links. Between the two entities there was a cross-shareholding, debt guarantee and shared management.
