Lachlan Star into administration

Chile-focused gold miner Lachlan Star has been placed into administration after it was unable to complete negotiations for the sale of its major subsidiary.

The directors have appointed Matthew Woods and Hayden White of KPMG as joint and several administrators.

Lachlan Star received a proposal earlier this month from one of its major shareholders, Hamilton Place Associates, to buy all of the shares in its wholly-owned subsidiary DMC Newco, which owns the Chilean operations.

This replaced a previous proposal for a gold purchase and sale agreement, to provide extra working capital.

A majority of Lachlan Star directors concluded that the sale proposal was not capable of being progressed with an adequate degree of certainty and in a timeframe that would ensure the ongoing solvency of the company.

Lachlan Star’s chairman Peter Babin is a manager of Hamilton Place Associates.

He was also previously the managing director of DMC Newco, and one of the vendors involved in the sale of that company to Lachlan Star in 2010.