Great Southern class action edges closer
Decision imminent
By Alice Uribe
Mon 20 Jul 2009

Slater & Gordon edges closer to commencing a class action against Great Southern and the advisers who recommended Great Southern investments.

Law firm Slater & Gordon has edged closer to commencing a class action on behalf of investors in the failed agribusiness company Great Southern.

“We feel like we are coming close to being able to go to market with a proposal to go forward, but we are still seeking active registration of interest for victims of the Great Southern collapse,” Slater & Gordon associate Ben Whitwell said.

Whitewell told InvestorDaily that while the firm hasn’t commenced any action, it was investigating current avenues of recovery for investors.

“A good number of people have called us, but we are still looking for more people for a better picture of what is going on,” Whitwell said.

Slater & Gordon was also examining the role of advisers who recommended the Great Southern investments, particularly whether remunerations were adequately disclosed to investors.

Great Southern investor action group Save My Trees was aware of the possible class action.

“I know that they’re exploring the possibility of a class action. But that’s detracting from what people should be focused on,” Save My Trees chairman Rob Burns said.

“We’re going to avoid court actions unless required.”

Instead, Save My Trees has placed emphasis on lobbying the government so that it has an understanding of the issues and identifying an opportunity for replacing the current responsible entity Ferrier Hodgson.

However, Whitwell said Great Southern investors may need to look at the possibility of action.

“With collapses such as Westpoint and Fincorp, the investors generally need help in commencing proceedings,” Whitwell said.

BRISBANE TIMES
Great Southern project manager insolvent: report
Danny John
June 10, 2009

THE corporate offshoot charged with running Great Southern’s managed investment schemes is insolvent and has no cash available to complete its forestry and horticulture projects.

Investigations undertaken by McGrathNicol, the receivers of the collapsed timber investment company, have indicated that the responsible entity of the Great Southern group will have to be wound up because of its financial position.

Great Southern Managers Australia (GSMA) is understood to have insufficient reserves and no chance of securing additional funds to continue in its role of managing the group’s 45 schemes. GSMA was the body with direct responsibility for the schemes that over the past 10 years raised $2.3 billion from 43,000 investors attracted by the tax advantages of the group’s managed investment projects.

But Great Southern’s slide into administration last month after running up debts of $600 million has left the group’s investor growers facing an uncertain future, especially as GSMA is no longer in a position to support their schemes.

Their situation mirrors that of the 18,500 investor growers in the rival managed investment company Timbercorp, which collapsed in late April owing creditors $900 million.

Timbercorp’s responsible entity was found to be “hopelessly insolvent” by the administrators, KordaMentha, which estimated that at least $300 million in new capital was required to maintain its 24 almond and olive tree growing schemes.

Both McGrathNicol and Great Southern’s administrators, Ferrier Hodgson, are now assessing the financial status of each of its projects to work out which are viable and which have little chance of surviving.

They will eventually fall into three categories: those that can be harvested and even produce a decent return for their investors in line with original forecasts; those that may still be viable with the support of a new and financially strong responsible entity to manage them; those that will have to be wound up.

The oldest of Great Southern’s schemes, including its 1998 and 1999 pulpwood forestry operations that are about to be harvested, are the least affected by the company’s collapse.

But the prospects of those that followed, and in particular its most recent schemes, is less certain with some investors now having to face up to the fact there is little value left in their horticultural holdings.

The receivers and adminis-trators hope to be in a position over the next three months to give a view about the best outcome for each scheme. However, Great Southern’s complex financial structure and the multitude of investment schemes means that it might not be before the end of the year before investor growers get to vote on what should happen to their individual projects.