Yeeda racks up $103m debt, administrators say

Administrators of Yeeda Pastoral Company have received a time extension for the next creditors meeting, after finding the Kimberley business was $103 million in debt.

Richard Tucker, Anthony Miskiewicz, and David Osborne, of KordaMentha, were appointed as administrator of Yeeda Pastoral Co and its subsidiaries in February.

The administrators’ first creditors report and a recently published Supreme Court of Western Australia document revealed the Yeeda group owed about $50.4 million to secured creditors and $53 million to unsecured creditors.

The estimated figures are a stark difference to the reported preliminary debt estimate, of $5 million, at the time the group fell into administration.

In her judgment, WA’s Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Hill allowed the administrators to have a six-month extension to sell the group's assets and hold the second creditors meeting.

"Mr Osborne's evidence is that the administrators intend to undertake a sale process for the assets and interests of the Yeeda group," the judgment reads.

"The [administrators] have already sought proposals from prospective sales agents and expect they will appoint agents to undertake the sale process in the near future.

"At this stage, they believe this process will take well in excess of three months and is more likely to take up to six months."

Commonwealth Bank of Australia has been listed as Yeeda’s main creditor, to which the pastoral company owes about $43.6 million, according to the creditors' report.

Yeeda Pastoral Co owns Yeeda and Mount Jowlaenga stations and Kimberley Meat Company abattoir, the only large abattoir in northern Western Australia.

Subsidiaries under administration include Kimberley Meat Company, Kimberley Properties, Yeeda Fodder Company, Australian Rangeland Meat, and Yeeda Kimberley Tours.

The Yeeda group of companies also controls two cattle stations, and owns about 15,000 cattle and eight residential properties, according to the court judgment.

The judgment said the administrators believed the Yeeda entities were insolvent, except for Yeeda Fodder Company.

Yeeda is backed by New York-based Fitzroy River Limited and Hong Kong’s ADM Capital, which owns about 80 per cent of the business.

Fitzroy River LLC is owed $10.5 million as an unsecured creditor while ADM Capital is owed $US927,301, equivalent to $A1,422,601.21, according to the first creditors report.

The report also showed ADM Capital’s Snowflake Holding claimed a $U19,773,406 debt, equivalent to $A30,334,995.12.

Yeeda’s co-founder Mervyn Key sold his shareholding to ADM Capital and resigned as the company’s chairman last year.

In 2022, Andrew and Nicola Forrest’s Harvest Road acquired a 604,000-hectare Springvale aggregation from Yeeda for $70 million.

The east Kimberley aggregation comprises Springvale, Mabel Downs, Texas Downs and Alice Downs stations, and was stocked with 35,000 head of cattle at the time.