Gunns ‘buying time’ with restructure
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The Australian Greens say Tasmanian timber company Gunns is “buying time” by restructuring.
John Gay has announced he will step down as chairman of the troubled company in November to head up a new firm, Southern Star.
That firm will manage the $2.5 billion Tamar Valley pulp mill proposal, with Gunns remaining the majority partner.
Greens Senator Christine Milne says the restructure is a last ditch effort to attract foreign investors for the pulp mill project.
“It’s a fishing expedition for John Gay,” she said.
“He’s been telling the ASX and the whole investor community that he will announce who the joint venture partner is for at least the last 12 months.
“He keeps putting it off time and time again, it’s got to the point where no-one believes it anymore.
“This restructure is – to put a bit of gloss on it – to say ‘look we’ve restructured the company, we’ve put out there expressions of interest, we’re now waiting to see what comes back’.
“But the same problems remain, John Gay is still running Southern Star, you still have the same sort of governance as occurred at Gunns.”