AUSTRALIA, October 30, 2018 (abc.net.au): [HPI note-we’re a bit late on reporting on this, but wanted to keep our readers informed. In Hinduism Today, April, 2018, issue we did an extensive report on Quintis company which had become the world’s largest sandalwood producer:
https://www.hinduismtoday.com/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=5851
Just at the time of our story, the company declared bankruptcy and faced a bleak future. But according to this report, they have been refinanced.]
Indian sandalwood company Quintis has emerged from administration as a private company after a $145 million cash injection from its creditors. Global investment giant BlackRock yesterday became the majority owner of the company, which manages 12,500 hectares of forestry plantations across the Northern Territory, Western Australia and Queensland. The recapitalization means Quintis will honor all its agreements with managed investment scheme (MIS) investors, and about 200 employees will keep their jobs.
Quintis has had a difficult 18 months, with key contracts cancelled, the loss of its founder and managing director, entering into a trading halt, and appointing bankruptcy administrators in January. At the same time, a splinter group of shareholders and growers have been battling to take over some Quintis-managed sandalwood plantations. Quintis chief executive and director Julius Matthys said [the appointed bankruptcy] administrators left the company yesterday once the $145 million had been received from BlackRock. “We have all of that money today, and the money is to fund our business operations until we are cash positive from the sale of our plantation wood,” he said. “Quintis is now a private company, it has a debt and equity structure, and the $145 million is cash to underwrite the operations over the next four or five years. “The problems of the past were generally around having to raise money on an annual basis to maintain operations. With this cash injection we don’t need to do this anymore.”