Gresham Partners has been appointed by Great Southern receiver McGrathNicol to conduct a scoping study on the best way to sell the land assets of the failed managed investment scheme operator. According to The Australian Financial Review, in order for McGrathNicol to push ahead with a formal sales process of 271,000 hectares of freehold forestry land, it needs approval from the secured creditors.
The "club" banking syndicate includes Commonwealth Bank of Australia, ANZ, Japan's Mizuho and CBA-owned Bankwest (owed about $336 million) and a second, smaller facility of $195 million that includes ANZ, Bank of Scotland, United Overseas Bank and GE.
The majority of the land is located in Western Australia and the Green Triangle region in South Australia/Victoria. In Great Southern's 2008 accounts, the land was valued at around $725 million.
But given the deluge of forestry assets on the market (and based on the Timbercorp land sale) some timber industry players say Great Southern's land could sell for closer to $500 million.
