Receiver says no Qintex fire sale

Press, 22 November 1989, Page 41

Receiver says no Qintex fire sale

NZPA-AAP Melbourne Qintex Australia’s court-appointed receiver, Mr David Crawford, says there will be no fire sale of Qintex assets. Mr Crawford said he and his advisers, as receivers and managers, would approach senior Qintex lenders to extend funding, allowing the group to continue operating until returns from any asset sales can be maximised. A Victorian Supreme Court also appointed Mr John Allpass, of Peat Marwick Hungerfords, to assist.

A significant disposal of assets is required and he named Mirage Resorts and Channel 7 television networks as core assets that will be considered for sale.

Mr Crawford, a partner in accountants Peat Marwick Hungerfords, said Qintex chairman, Mr Christopher Skase, will act as adviser to the receivers and managers, and had offered full co-operation. But Mr Crawford also said he is unaware of any example of receivers and managers being appointed to a company where there has not been a case of mismanagement. Mr Crawford declined to quantify the funds required to keep Qintex operational. “The amount of funds required varies on a week-to-week basis. But the funding that will be required through to I believe almost the middle of next-year has been arranged,” he said. The position of shareholders came after payments to secured, partly secured and unsecured lenders. “The fate of shareholders is very much dependent on our ability in conjunction with the lenders to maximise the returns that must come from the assets disposition programme,” he said.

He declined to nominate any prices and prospective returns from assets sales, saying he had received countless expressions of interest in all assets in the QAL group. Mr Crawford said the Channel 7 network was still being run by the same board and management as before. He said he had notified Australian Broadcasting Tribunal chairman Deirdre O’Connor about his appointment as receiver and manager to the QAL and its associated companies. But he said the network had not changed ownership and he believed a meeting with O’Connor in Sydney today would confirm this. A detailed assessment of the Qintex group’s financial situation was being

conducted with all urgency and he expected a report to be available within a matter of days as the assessment was already well-underway. Maximising the returns from any sale of assets, whether partial sales or whole assets sales, was the prime responsibility of the receivers and managers. Peat Marwick Hungerfords had already looked at the issue of the payment of more than sAust42 million (SNZSS.SM) in management fees to senior Qintex management and said if shareholders did not retrospectively approve the payment, court action was clearly an available option. Mr Crawford said the board of Qintex, Ltd, was still in place, but had no power over its QAL subsidiary and associates. “Skase has built a very large company and is obviously a man of ability,” he said.

“He intimately knows the group and I believe it will be essential to call on his experience and expertise to assist in the administration of the assets sale.”

Mr Crawford described appointment of a receiver and manager as a “very positive and responsible course of action” as secured lenders could have appointed their own receivers over the group, a move he said could cause significant problems. “The reason for taking this action was to try and hold everything together and try and maintain the business operations so that they can be sold as going concerns,” Mr Crawford said.

“Clearly they will obtain more in the market-place if they can be sold as going concerns.” Although the receivers would be selling into “an interesting climate,” there would “always be buyers of quality assets.”

Meanwhile, FAI Insurances, one of the largest individual shareholders in Qintex, expects to write off sAust2oM in the investment, FAI chief executive Mr Rodney Adler said in a television interview.

“As long as there is an orderly disposal I think everyone will be happy,” Mr Adler said.

He said he expected some criticism from shareholders for FAl’s high profile in Qintex and he was embarrassed at having to admit to a loss in the Qintex investment.

“Making a loss is one of the most embarrassing things to a person who likes to make a profit,” he said.