Great Southern, Australia??s largest listed managed investment scheme (MIS) manager, has collapsed into bankruptcy with debts of close to A$700m.The company, which bundles forestry, livestock and other agricultural assets into investment products for retail sale, appointed administrators after its banking syndicate refused to continue supporting a restructuring program.
Cameron Rhodes, Great Southern??s managing director, said the company had no alternative but to call in administrators after banks withdrew support.
Great Southern had been trying to restructure its business for the past 15 months to cut debt, diversify earnings and cash flow and reduce its reliance on annual managed investment scheme sales. ??Earlier this year, the company continued its restructuring programme by implementing a clear and comprehensive five-point plan we believe had the capacity to deliver maximum value for all stakeholders of the group,? Mr Rhodes said. ??However, while advanced in this short-term plan, the company still has some reliance on MIS sales to generate short term cash flow.?
Great Southern had raised about A$1.8bn since 2004 and has 43,000 mostly retail investors in 45 managed investment schemes.
The company owns and leases about 240,000 hectares of land under its forestry division. It also owns more than 150,000 head of cattle across 1.5m hectares of owned and leased land.
??The company had begun discussions with our banks in regards to working capital and a request for the provision of a short-term bridging facility which would assist the company through to asset realisations, which we had expected would generate over A$200m over the coming months,? Mr Rhodes said.
Great Southern had planned to auction cattle stations and sell other non-core land holdings.
