Clive Palmer loses bid for hostile takeover of Sunshine Coast resort holiday houses

WHILE everyone else unwrapped presents, Queensland millionaire Clive Palmer was given some bad news that was sure to sour his Christmas Day.

CLIVE Palmer’s woes have deepened after losing a long-running bid for a hostile takeover of holiday houses at his Sunshine Coast resort.

But the unit owners still remain in limbo waiting on a final decision from corporate watchdog The Takeovers Panel, expected to be made early in the new year.

It is part of a dispute spanning almost five years over his attempted buyout of 80 timeshare villas at the Palmer Coolum Resort.

This week the Federal Court of Australia dismissed an application from Mr Palmer’s company Palmer Leisure seeking to overturn the panel’s interim order, which limited his voting rights in the President’s Club, which operates the timeshares.

The panel’s order temporarily limits Palmer Leisure’s voting rights to 20 per cent, even though it and other Palmer companies bought a 44.3 per cent share in the club in 2011, while it decides if the circumstances around the takeover were acceptable.

Unit owners have been staging a sit-in at the resort, which has no running water or electricity.

According to court documents, Palmer companies intended to spill the President’s Club board and appoint new directors, including Mr Palmer and his wife Anna Palmer.

Solicitors for the club said this was despite Mr Palmer’s companies having “refused to pay levies since at least 2013”.

Justice Andrew Greenwood rejected claims from Mr Palmer’s legal team that the Takeover Panel made an error in issuing the interim order.

He dismissed the application to overturn the orders.

It is the latest in a bad run for Mr Palmer, whose company Queensland Nickel is on the verge of going into administration according to his own lawyers.

The Queensland Government rejected a request for a “short-term guarantee” for finances.