Solid Energy creditors vote against committee, decide to keep KordaMentha

Tuesday 25th August 2015

The creditors for failed state-owned coal miner Solid Energy have voted against setting up a committee to liaise with the company's administrators, Brendon Gibson and Grant Graham of KordaMentha, who got approval from the lenders.

Solid Energy's creditors, which includes Bank of New Zealand, ASB, Australia & New Zealand Banking Group, Westpac Banking Corp, and Bank of Tokyo, held their first meeting today where they voted against forming a creditors' committee and decided to retain Gibson and Graham, ahead of the Sept. 17 watershed meeting where the mining company's future will be decided, the company said in a statement.

Under the Companies Act, a creditors' committee consults with and receives reports from the administrator, and is voted on before the watershed meeting. That meeting decides a company's fate and must be notified 20 working days after an administrator is appointed, and held up to five days later.

Creditors will receive a notice of the meeting and the administrator's first report on Sept. 10, which will include a full analysis and independent recommendation over the Solid Energy board's proposal to sell down the mining company's assets over a two and a half year period.

Neither Solid Energy nor the administrators will comment on the company's voluntary administration until after the watershed meeting, they said.

Solid Energy was placed into voluntary administration on Aug. 13 after major restructuring including widespread lay-offs and the shuttering of mining operations failed to revive the ailing company hit by persistently weak global coal prices and an excessive level of debt that had already needed a government injection and recapitalisation.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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