May 21, 2010

Australia - Another farm investment scam has collapsed

http://www.meattradenewsdaily.co.uk

 
The Rewards Group managed 12,000 hectares of forestry and fruit plantations in Queensland, Western Australia and Victoria.

It ran into financial difficulties last year and was trying to raise money to pay rent and provide working capital.

It wasn't successful and voluntary administrators Ferrier Hodgson have been called in.
MIS analyst Shane Kelly says the administrators have some tough decisions to make.

"The worst outcome is that the administrators look to wind up the projects and sell the land as cleared title," he says.

"A good outcome would be a similar outcome that has occurred for Timbercorp mangoes or avocados, where new responsible entities came in to replace Timbercorp, as they would Rewards, that allowed those projects to continue on in the manner to which the investors invested."

A former head of the Australian Mango Industry Association says he isn't surprised another MIS provider has fallen over.

Mareeba farmer Joe Moro wrote to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission many years ago to raise concerns about the mango return projections being quoted by Rewards Group and Timbercorp.

He says they were unrealistic.

"There were projections there of 30 per cent they'd be exporting, from both of the MIS's," he says.

"They never were able to achieve those outcomes.

"It never was possible for mangoes, if you understood the export market for mangoes, and the prices they were talking they were going to get for some of this product was always at the top end and had to be in situations where the market was undersupplied, rather than oversupplied, which is where we're at today."