KordaMentha, the receiver of bankrupt Tasmanian timber company Gunns, has said it has six final bids for some of the company’s assets. Source: The Australian
Of the six bids received by its deadline, four are just for Gunn’s forestry assets and two bidders are only interested in Gunn’s pulp mill licence.
One of the seven final bidders selected by KordaMentha and investment bank Moelis, managers of the Gunns auction, did not file a bid.
“There was a lot of competitive tension in the process and they are strong bids,” KordaMentha partner Bryan Webster, Gunns’ principal receiver, said in a statement.
The bids, which have conditions attached, will be analysed by KordaMentha and Moelis for about 10 days.
A preferred bidder will then be selected and negotiations will begin that may last a month or two.
Gunns’ assets include 175,680 gross hectares of freehold land incorporating 96,850 hectares of hardwood eucalyptus and 3780 hectares of softwood radiata pine.
A licence to build a pulp mill on a 650-hectare site with access to a seaport is included in the Gunns sale.
The winning bid will be the bidder offering the highest price. As much as 70% of the proceeds of the sale will go to hedge fund Anchorage Capital Group, which bought Gunns’ debt for between 40 cents and 45 cents in the dollar from a group of banks, including ANZ.
Gunns’ secured lenders were owed $445.7 million, according to PPB Advisory in February 2013.
