Tinkler Sought to Buy Blackwood to Avoid Testimony
By Joe Schneider - Mar 12, 2013 2:18 PM GMT+1100.
Nathan Tinkler, the biggest shareholder in Whitehaven Coal Ltd. (WHC), proposed to buy Blackwood Corp. (BWD) to avoid having to testify in court about his finances, an Australian judge was told.
KN Coal Pty, a Singapore-based company controlled by Tinkler, had offered to make a take-over offer last month, which was turned down by Blackwood’s board of directors on March 7 unless Tinkler could provide a A$15 million ($15.5 million) guarantee, Alec Leopold, Tinkler’s lawyer, said at a hearing in Sydney today.
Blackwood sought to wind up Tinkler’s Mulsanne Resources Pty. in November after it failed to pay A$28.4 million it owed for shares in the coal developer. Tinkler didn’t contest the order in court at the time, which was granted by New South Wales Supreme Court Registrar Nicholas Flaskas.
Tinkler approached Blackwood saying “please, do a deal,” Robert Newlinds, lawyer for the Mulsanne liquidator Ferrier Hodgson, said in court today. “I don’t want to be examined publically.”
Ferrier Hodgson sought to force Tinkler to testify in court about his finances, wanting to know, according to Newlinds, how Mulsanne could have agreed to pay A$28.4 million for the Blackwood shares without having any funding in place.
Tinkler failed to show up for the court-ordered testimony on March 8, with Leopold calling the examination an abuse of the court process. Leopold told New South Wales Supreme Court Justice Paul Brereton that Blackwood was using the examination as leverage to win concessions from Tinkler in the takeover negotiations.
Three Directors
Tinkler was listed as one of three directors of Mulsanne in a December ASIC company extract. Mulsanne was created in April, and agreed in May to invest A$28.4 million for a 34 percent stake in Blackwood, which is controlled by commodity trader Noble Group Ltd. and is developing coal mines in Queensland state.
The ruling putting Mulsanne in liquidation exposed Tinkler, an electrician-turned-mining investor, personally to creditors, said Marina Nehme, a senior lecturer at University of Western Sydney’s School of Law. The Australian Tax Office sought to liquidate eight Tinkler companies in December for unpaid taxes. Tinkler has settled most of those claims since.
Tinkler’s Dassault Falcon 900C jet and AgustaWestland A109S helicopter were seized after TGHA Aviation Pty was placed in receivership on Nov. 23 at the request of GE Commercial Australasia Pty, Nathan Landrey, a partner at the receiver Taylor Woodings in Sydney said.
Aircraft Sale
The aircraft are being advertised for sale, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Tinkler’s business journey began when he sold his house in 2006 to help buy the A$30 million Middlemount coal lease in Queensland before selling it a year later to Macarthur Coal Ltd. for about A$465 million in cash and shares. More recently, his wealth and personal indebtedness has been the subject of speculation.
Whitehaven said in August Tinkler abandoned his plan to take over the coal miner for A$5.3 billion without giving a reason. The company’s stock has fallen 46 percent this year, as coal prices declined.
The case is In the matter of Mulsanne Resources Pty. 2012/00296966. Supreme Court of New South Wales (Sydney).
