Bowen Coking Coal seeks buyer or investors to dig itself out of a deepening debt hole
Administrators are seeking a buyer or investors for Bowen Coking Coal amid a deepening debt hole with the latest creditors bill already at $79m and rising.
The first casualty of the Queensland super coal royalty scheme and low coal prices has yet to find a buyer or a major investor to keep its mines open as the scale of its debts are revealed.
Bowen Coking Coal called in McGrathNicol Restructuring as voluntary administrators in late July with FTI Consulting then appointed as receivers and managers after being tapped by major creditor Global Loan Agency Services Australia Nominees.
While it is early days, according to the latest ASIC report, the ASX-listed metallurgical coal miner’s creditors are owed $79.2m, but we that will figure will rise.
Non-bank lender Global Loan Agency is owed $40.2m and BUMA Australia – a subsidiary of Indonesian mining services provider, BUMA is owed $33.7m.
Both creditors are secured.
At this stage we hear that its almost “business at usual” at Bowen Coking’s flagship Burton mine in central Queensland.
According to a flyer produced by FTI, they are seeking bids for all or part of the company, structured as a sale or recapitalisation.
FTI has put a $500m replacement value on the processing infrastructure built at the Burton mining complex.
Also on the block is The Bluff mine that has been in care and maintenance mode, a portfolio of early-stage projects in the region.
To sweeten the deal there is also 822 million tonnes of estimated coal resource and the Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal nearby.
However, the sticking point may be $400m in accumulated tax losses and a coal price that remains stubbornly low.
And with the government ruling out changes to the state’s coal royalties regime there will be more pressure on the under pressure mining sector.
Party hearty
Two Brisbane software unicorns - SimPRO alumni Vanessa Winter and Lynelle Hills - are planning to shake up the event planning sector.
Winter and Hills have launched an event management platform Circolo Software.
They have raised more than $1m from founding shareholders and professional investors and plan to undertake a further funding round to raise $1.5m over coming months to support continued product development and marketing.
At the heart of Circolo is a centralised event dashboard that provides teams with real-time visibility and control, simplifying collaboration and ensuring every detail is managed seamlessly from planning through to delivery.
Winter, who has spent more than a decade delivering major events and leading operations teams, says Circolo was born from frustration with the outdated tools available to event managers.
“I know the pain of trying to manage large-scale events across multiple spreadsheets, with dozens of moving parts and stakeholders,” she says.
“Circolo was designed to take that pain away – to give event managers their time back, reduce errors, and ultimately deliver a better experience for everyone involved.”
Site sold
The Uniting Church has sold a large bayside landholding that will be repurposed for retirement living.
Although there is no price available we understand that LDK Seniors Living has bought the 2.1ha site at 16 Twenty Fourth Ave, Brighton.
The vacant site was sold by CBRE’s Will Carman and John Nucifora.
LDK’s model is based on a so-called One Move Promise which allows residents to move from independent living to aged care. The company is owned by founder and director Paul Browne and Anglicare Sydney.
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