Australia’s biggest plastics maker is set for closure by the end of the year, after Qenos’ creditors waved through its sale to property developer Logos on Thursday.
The deal, agreed to in the second creditors meeting, will see Qenos’ long-term staff paid out their entitlements and redundancies in full, with unsecured creditors — including about $45m to $50m in trade creditors — likely to receive only 10c on the dollar on moneys owed.
Logos has so far tipped in $250m in funding to secure the assets, including $114m to cover a portion of entitlements for Qenos’ 550 workers and the running costs of the plants, which were losing an estimated $20m per month at the time administrators were called on in April.
The property developer has also committed another $65m to ensure workers are paid out in full, and will also likely cop the bill of up to $210m of further operating losses, closure and “make safe” costs as Qenos operations in Sydney and Melbourne are wound down over the remainder of the year.
The agreement effectively hands control of Qenos’ manufacturing plants in Sydney and Melbourne to companies associated with Logos, which plans to finalise the closure of both remaining sites by the end of the year before beginning the lengthy and expensive process of cleaning up both heavily contaminated sites and finding them a new use.
