Hickey Management no longer project managers for Spirit tower by Chinese developer Forise

GOLD Coast legal firm Hickey Management is no longer project manager for the $1.3 billion Spirit tower, and its Chinese developers are unavailable to confirm the project’s future.

Forise Holdings' $1.2 billion Spirit tower would rise 300 metres above the Gold Coast once it's completed, making it Australia's third tallest residential tower. Supplied

GOLD Coast firm Hickey Management is no longer project manager for the $1.3 billion Spirit tower.

The future of the Gold Coast’s tallest building has been under a cloud, with no sign of tenders for the construction being put to market as a financial squeeze in China places pressure on parent company Forise.

Sales in the 479-unit tower, which would boast a $41 million penthouse, had been strong since they were launched in a VIP-studded Palazzo Versace launch in July.

The developers have already spent an estimated $120 million on the development, with Sydney financier MaxCap purportedly providing funding for the project.

Multiple attempts to contact Sydney-based Forise Investments Australia directly over the past two weeks have been unsuccessful.

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Hickey Management chairman Tony Hickey declined to detail the nature of his ongoing relationship with Forise, but company documents show he remains a director for Perth-based, ASX-listed mining exploration company Frontier Resources (FNT), which Forise took a majority share in earlier this year.

Shares in Frontier Resources were placed in a trading halt after the Gold Coast Bulletin reported entities connected with Forise had taken a $6 million, 67 per cent stake as the ASX issued the company with a please-explain over its future operations.

Another entity linked to Forise, ACH Investments bought an additional 9.58 per cent slice of Frontier the same day.

A screenshot from the website of mezzanine lender MaxCap Group showing Spirit among their transactions. Photo Supplied

The stock exchange queried speculation over a “change of activities” for the mining explorer, whose website last month listed a number of African mining projects, but those projects have since been removed from the site.

“FNT confirms its main business activity remains mineral and resource exploration in Papua New Guinea,” their response to the market said.

“FNT’s proposal to use the funds raised under the placement agreement with Forise to fund further exploration work at its projects in Papua New Guinea is unchanged.”

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Tony Hickey with his son Jordan Hickey. Picture: Glenn Hampson

Frontier said “there is currently no proposal, negotiation or change in business strategy” and that if one arose it would be put to the ASX for consideration.

Forise Investment Australia, is one of a web of companies linked to Chinese mega-company Fu Hua.

Steve Hunt, of the project’s PR agency Media Hunt, declined to answer specific questions on Spirit’s progress and said he was “awaiting further instructions from our client”.

Chinese-backed projects around the world have been impacted by a clampdown on foreign investment by the Chinese Government, which intensified last month when it passed laws classifying foreign property development investment as “restricted”.

Exacerbating the squeeze is a devastating crash of China’s peer-to-peer or “P2P” lending system, which has seen thousands of companies collapse and individuals lose their savings in a failed system that holds up to $AU300 billion in outstanding loans.

The Gold Coast Bulletin understands Fu Hua has lost as much as $400 million in the P2P collapse.