Eagle parents hatch deal

The saga of Eagle Aircraft, the Henderson-based light plane maker that went to Malaysia, has come to an end with all creditors likely to receive 100 cents in the dollar.

Creditors approved a Deed of Company Arrangement to be overseen by Dickson Carrello partner John Carrello on January 24.

Mr Carrello told the creditors meeting there was a “99.9 per cent possibility that creditors will get 100 cents in the dollar”.

He said Eagle Aircraft Sdn Bhd, the Malaysian-based parent entity of the once Henderson-based Eagle Aircraft Pty Ltd, had agreed to set aside any debts it had from its Western Australian entity and allow all available monies to be distributed to creditors.

“This is one of those situations where the parent company sees something that needs to be cleaned up and does it,” Mr Carrello said.

“They could have done nothing but chose to tie up the loose ends.”

Mr Carrello said there was $480,000 in cash to distribute among creditors.

One of the main creditors is the Australian Tax Office which had lodged a claim for $300,000.

Dickson Carrello’s Chris Daws said the ATO had since downgraded its estimate considerably.

“With the ATO taken out of it there is about $50,000 owing,” he said.

Mr Carrello told the creditors’ meeting that Dickson Carrello could receive up to $30,000 in fees to administer the DOCA.

He said any fees he incurred over and above that would have to be approved by creditors.

Mr Carrello told creditors the firm had incurred fees of about $12,000 to handle the administration. 

Eagle Aircraft closed its Henderson facility in 2001 and moved full production of its planes to Malaysia.

That move cost jobs and led to heated scenes at a picket line outside the Henderson facility that resulted in police attendance.

The picketers even blocked the export of an airframe.

The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union negotiated a confidential redundancy settlement with Eagle’s Malaysian owners that met the approval of the affected workers.

Eagle Aircraft started its life as an ambitious project led by Deryck Graham to build a strong, lightweight aircraft.

The company began as Composite Industries before becoming Eagle Aircraft in the late 1980s.

It was bought by a Malaysian Government-led group in the late 1980s.

Under its Malaysian owners the company continued to build a market base for its planes that were largely built from Kevlar.

Those efforts received a major fillip in 1999 when Eagle’s 150-series aircraft received US Federal Aviation Authority certification.

It was one of the first Australian aircraft manufacturers to use a bilateral agreement that allowed Australian regulators to conduct most of the FAA approvals process.

That opened the lucrative US market to the company and led to a $5 million, 24-plane deal of its two-seater Eagle 150 aircraft to GHL Aero.

However, the market for its planes started to contract and the company was faced with a decision over whether to keep its Henderson operation or not.