You bloody beauty,give the banks no 1/4,just keep going guys,burn the bastards and nuts to the banks
Go-ahead for Timbercorp almond salePHILIP HOPKINS THE AGE October 10, 2009
Sale of Timbercorp's almond groves is to go ahead. Photo: Erin Jonasson
THE $128 million sale of the almond assets of collapsed forestry company Timbercorp to Olam International is set to go ahead, but the banks and growers will have to negotiate how the proceeds are split.
This follows a hearing in the Victorian Supreme Court yesterday when all parties agreed on several points of order that create a framework allowing the almond asset sale to proceed. The orders include covering the cost of maintaining the almond plantations.
However, the banks must formally agree to discharge their mortgages over the assets before the sale can officially proceed. The banks were believed to be considering their decision last night.
The money from the sale will be held in trust while the negotiations between the banks and growers take place. If they fail, the issue may have to go back to court for resolution.
The orders give effect to the judgment brought down by Justice Ross Robson on Thursday, but the costs have been reserved. Justice Robson yesterday congratulated all the parties on coming to agreement.
Leon Zwier, of Arnold Bloch Leibler, on behalf of the plaintiff Timbercorp Securities, had sought direction from the court that the liquidators, KordaMentha, were justified in selling the almond assets to Olam for $128 million and extinguishing growers' rights.
The banks, which are owed $249 million, have offered Timbercorp almond growers $6 million. However, the Timbercorp Growers Group, which represents 7000 almond growers, has rejected the amount as totally inadequate and has been pushing the banks for $50 million.
Justice Robson's judgment stipulated that the sale proceeds must be held in trust until the growers' proprietary rights to the moneys were established or agreed on.
Mark Korda, of KordaMentha, welcomed the go-ahead for the sale.
''What that means is the argument is over cash, not dying trees and shrivelling nuts,'' he told BusinessDay.
Kerree Bezencon, spokeswoman for the Timbercorp Growers Group almond committee, said the growers would still fight tooth and nail to get a fair outcome. ''We definitely will not be going away,'' she said.
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