Americans buy FEA

FEA’s Receivers Deloitte has at last found a buyer for FEA’s land and trees.

Resources Management Services LLC (RMS) a forestry investment manager from Alabama paid $125.5 million for land belonging to FEA and trees belonging to FEA’s MIS growers.

The sale price confirms that forest assets have continued to plummet in value. The sale price is a disaster for everyone waiting for a distribution, the secured and unsecured creditors and the growers.

The insolvency practitioners stand the best chance of getting paid in full.

MIS last rites

Reports suggest New Forests has bought Gunns’ assets (not including the pulp mill site and permits) for $330 million.

In all likelihood this means Gunns’ land plus the trees growing on the land. Some of the trees however belong to MIS investors and joint venture partners.

Court proceedings have been underway for some time to get court approval for the amount to be split to the tree growers.

It won’t all end up with the hedge funds or whoever now owns Gunns’ bank debt.

Joint venture partners will get some and some will go to the MIS growers. Korda Mentha also will undoubtedly clip the ticket.

Accounting for Dummies: Lessons from the forest industry

The suggestion in the title is that accountants are smarter than the average. Most aren’t.

Accounting is essentially about debits and credits, plusses and minuses to use the generic terms. Not exactly rocket science. But much of what is presented in financial statements confuses rather than promotes understanding, deliberately so at times, unfortunately not an uncommon occurrence amongst professions.

The following is an attempt to outline the lessons, 17 in total, from the financial statements of Great Southern, Timbercorp, Forest Enterprises (FEA), Gunns and Forestry Tasmania (FT), by presenting a common sense interpretation of some of the more significant features, and perhaps provide the new Minister with an accounting analysis of the current forest industry, lest he thinks it is in suitable shape to provide a springboard for the future.

FEA treading water

Forest Enterprises (FEA) are suspended from the ASX not because they’re in the midst of discussions with their bankers, but because they are in breach of ASX listing requirements.

They are yet to file their half yearly report due by the end of February 2010.

FEA are currently insolvent because the banks intend to test their loan covenants by using the yet to be released results.

They’ve now been in breach of banking covenants for 9 months.

FEA update

Forest Enterprises (FEA) announced to ASX on 26th June 2009 a lower than expected MIS sales figure for the almost completed year 2008/09(FY09). http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20090626/pdf/31j8mn9qqfyr3x.pdf
And a lower than the hankered figure as per the ASX announcement of 27th May 2009.

The “sales are likely to be significantly less than the $60 million achieved in FY06 and FY07”.

Significantly less, that’s an unequivocal statement.

Wither FEA?

Gunns have been trying to point out ( Gunns after the deluge ) how they differ from the recently fallen Timbercorp and Great Southern.

What about Forest Enterprises Australia Ltd (FEA)? Any similarities?