Great Southern placed into voluntary administration

Agribusiness investment manager Great Southern Ltd. said Sunday (May 17) it has been placed into voluntary administration after its banking syndicate turned down a request for further loans.

"The directors have been left with no alternative but to take this sad and disappointing course of action after the group's club banks declined to continue to support the company's restructuring programme," Chief Executive Cameron Rhodes said in a statement.

Rhodes said there had been increasing market uncertainty about the sales of managed investment schemes, especially after the collapse of rival Timbercorp Ltd. last month.

Despite the rejection of a request for extra funding from its banks, Rhodes said the company still believes in its strategic plan and is committed to working with administrators to extract as much value as possible for stakeholders.

Last month Great Southern, which had a market capitalisation at last trade of A$77.2 million, said its interest bearing corporate facility stood at A$380 million and that it had A$105 million of debt due for repayment by October.

The group had planned to sell assets, including cattle assets with a book value of A$200 million, to meet its debt repayments.

US$1 = A$1.32902 (May 18)