Great Southern placed in receivership
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A consortium of banks, owed $600 million, have called in receivers to timber plantation and cattle project manager Great Southern.
Receivers McGrathNicol said on Tuesday that it had been appointed receiver of Great Southern and some of the company's 35 subsidiaries by a security trustee on behalf of a group of secured creditors.
Its understood the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, its subsidiary BankWest, ANZ and Japanese bank Mizuho appointed receivers.
The appointment of receivers follows the decision by directors of Great Southern to place the company into voluntary administration over the weekend.
"Control of the business and assets of the receivership companies now rests with the receivers," McGrathNicol said.
"This includes Great Southern Managers Australia Ltd, the responsible entity for the various managed investment schemes (MIS) which the Great Southern group promoted and managed."
McGrathNicol partner Simon Read said the receivers would work closely with Great Southern management, the voluntary administrator and other stakeholders to confirm the current financial position of the companies in receivership, including the financial viability of each MIS.
"This is a complex matter, and we expect the review process to take some time," Mr Read said.
"Whilst we appreciate this is a difficult time for all stakeholders, we are placing a high priority on keeping investors, staff and other stakeholders updated with developments as we progress."
McGrathNicol said the existing sales process for Great Southern's cattle business, to be held in June, would be maintained.
Great Southern owns and leases about 240,000 hectares of land and owns more than 150,000 cattle across 1.5 million hectares of owned and leased land.
Around 43,000 investors in the company's 45 managed investment schemes are owed up to $4 billion.
The company has raised $1.8 billion over the past five years and managed 45 managed investment schemes
A meeting of Great Southern creditors will be held on May 27 in Melbourne.