Philip Hopkins April 27, 2009 - 3:11PM Almond producer Select Harvests is pushing to buy the almond assets of its collapsed business partner Timbercorp.
The company has begun talks with Timbercorp's voluntary administrators, KordaMentha, with the initial aim to resume normal operations of the suspended horticulture operations.
Select Harvests' directors said all options were on the table, including ``the potential acquisition of Timbercorp's almond assets''.
Select Harvests shares were down 70, or 20%, to $2.80 in late afternoon trade, while Timbercorp's shares were 4.4 cents when suspended last week.
KordaMentha, which took over as administrators last Thursday, initially stopped operation of all Timbercorp's timber and horticultural operations while they assess what to do with each project. Timbercorp has 40 subsidiaries that control different projects, including 12,000 hectares of almond orchards.
The directors said the talks were at an early stage, but it was too early to forecast the financial impact of Timbercorp's collapse on Select Harvests. In the interim, the company was talking with its financiers to ensure their continuing support, particularly in relation to the bid for Timbercorp's almond assets, they said.
The two companies have had a business partnership for a decade. Select Harvests, which first planted almond orchards around Robinvale in the mid-1970s, began expanding after 1998 by developing almond orchards on behalf of external investors. Timbercorp helped provide the finance while Select managed and processed the crop.
This changed Select's income stream from crop revenue to a fee-based recurring income stream based on orchard development, farm management, harvesting, processing and marketing.
Select Harvests owns 1347 hectares (3368 acres) of its own almond orchards and manages 14,118 hectares on behalf of external investors, most of them with Timbercorp.
The company now processes 12,000 tonnes of almonds a year and aims to lift this to 40,000 tonnes by 2011 as new orchards come into full production.
Debt-ridden Timbercorp went into voluntary administration last week with a market capitalisation of $15million, net assets of $595million, current debt of $568 million and net debt of $903.1million.
