My mistake not MD. It was Baker non exec's company. ASF group.
2 days ago ASF group announces big purchase on Gold Coast.
Today they liquidate here. Not a coincidence I think. Forced strategic sale. Small money for them. $140m is a lot of money to get together.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/bus...t/news-story/e6c30cebfa967c6f5f15dda30ab40b22
Property
China-backed ASF Group buys $140m Gold Coast Sheraton Mirage resort
The swimming pool at Sheraton Mirage on the Gold Coast.
The Chinese government-backed ASF Group is understood to be the buyer behind the $140 million purchase of the Gold Coast’s Sheraton Mirage resort.
Sources have told
The Australian the property — which a court was told on Tuesday is expected to settle next week on July 29 — is being sold to interests associated with Kevin Lui.
Searches show Chinese-born Mr Lui, 39, who lists his address as a home in Castle Hill in Sydney’s north, is also a director and part-owner of Elite 100, which with ASF Group is attempting to build a new Gold Coast casino.
Mr Lui, who answered Elite 100’s company telephone number yesterday, said: “I have no comment to make about this,” before hanging up.
The ASF consortium has been dealing with the Queensland government in developing a casino and residential project called the Broadwater Marine Project, on a site adjacent to the Sheraton Mirage.
ASF has long been rumoured to have been unhappy with that site and to have instead sought to obtain the Sheraton Mirage, which unlike their existing site fronts the ocean.
Buying the Sheraton Mirage would advance the group’s aspirations to build a casino on the site, however new government approvals would be required.
The ownership of the Sheraton Mirage is controversial, because it was bought for $62m, plus a further $20m in refurbishment costs, with money from India’s $10 billion Pearls Ponzi scam.
Several Pearls directors teamed up with Gold Coast developers Paul Brinsmead and Peter Madrers in 2009 to form Pearls Australasia, which then bought the resort.
The two have previously claimed they were not aware about concerns relating to Pearls when they entered into business with Pearls directors in 2009.
Pearls Australia subsequently changed its name to MiiGroup, but still owns 100 per cent of the Sheraton Mirage.
Queensland barrister Niall Coburn and law firm Shine Lawyers are running a class action on behalf of about 46,000 Indian investors who are seeking the proceeds if the Sheraton Mirage resort is sold.
In the Federal Court in Brisbane on Tuesday they had sought to have the Sheraton and a $5m Gold Coast mansion also bought with Pearls money placed in receivership.
The court instead ruled the proceeds of any sale would temporarily be placed in a trust account while lawyers for Mr Madrers and Mr Brinsmead argued their case and any claim to the proceeds.
While the money used to buy and refurbish the Sheraton was provided by Pearls, Mr Brinsmead and Mr Madrers claim they own 50 per cent of MiiGroup, which owns half of the resort.
A lawyer for Indian-based Pearls Infrastructure Project Limited, which was the other owner of MiiGroup, disputed this.
Instead, PIPL owned “about 99 per cent of the shares in the owner of the Mirage”.
The class action will likely to focus on the proportion of the sale proceeds that will return to Indian investors and the proportion which will go to Mr Madrers and Mr Brinsmead.
“They have consistently said PIPL’s share of proceeds would be returned to India,” a spokesman for the men said yesterday.
The spokesman declined to comment when asked whether Foreign Investment Review Board approval was required or had been sought over the pending sale of the Sheraton Mirage, citing “confidentiality”.
Elite 100 provides wealthy Chinese investors with advice on how to obtain significant investor visas and it also offers assistance in their relocation to Australia.
Property financier Jason Meares, the chief executive of China Investment Options, is understood to have been involved in brokering the Sheraton sale.
Mr Meares, who is the brother of model and fashion designer Jodhi Meares, declined to comment yesterday.
