Rescue buyer being sought for Melbourne Star wheel

Hopes are building the Melbourne Star observation wheel which shut last month will win a reprieve from the scrap heap.

Hopes are building the Melbourne Star observation wheel will win a reprieve from the scrap heap as a number of local and international parties express an interest in buying the tourist attraction.

The liquidator for MB Star Properties – the company which owns the Dockland’s based wheel – is also getting ready to launch a sales campaign for the 120 metre tall wheel.

Liquidator Grant Thornton will officially kick off a sales campaign on October 22, the Herald Sun can reveal.

Grant Thornton corporate finance partner Cameron Bacon said while it was too early to say if a buyer would ultimately emerge, the liquidator had received a number of initial inquiries about a potential sale of the wheel.

A rescue buyer will be sought for the Melbourne Star.

“We are very early in the process,” Mr Bacon said.

“I don’t have a view as to whether we will find a buyer or not, but we are certainly commencing a sales process.”

Mr Bacon said he could not say who had expressed an interest in buying the wheel other than to confirm it was a mix of both Australian and international parties.

MB Star called in the liquidators in early September amid the city’s sixth lockdown which has culled tourism.

The move shuttered an attraction which has lit up the Melbourne skyline at night for more than a decade.

Docklands Chamber of Commerce president Johanna Maxwell said the prospect of a rescue buyer was fantastic news.

MB Star called in liquidators in early September amid the city’s sixth lockdown. Picture: Visit Victoria

“It would be wonderful for the Docklands,” Ms Maxwell said.

“The Melbourne Star has underpinned the small traders located around it. If we could welcome a new operator back in to the Docklands it would be a great morale boost for small traders.”

An early creditors report filed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission shows MB Star had debts of $3.4m when it called in liquidators.

The largest creditor is a company linked to the Swiss-based Robu Group which bought the wheel in February for an undisclosed sum

It is owed about $2.5m.

Major unrelated creditors include real estate firm Savills which is owed $41,435.

The Victorian State Revenue Office is owed $88,595 while insurer Honan Insurance Group is owed $105,514.