Sales Process
At the date of this report we had received three indicative offers for the plant and equipment and all mineral assets of View Gold. We have been liaising with these three parties for the past several weeks in order to attempt to finalise formal offers that can be put forward to Austral-Asia Resources and Infrastructural Resources Pty Ltd (“AARII”) (the secured creditor of the View Group) for consideration and if thought appropriate, acceptance of the same.
The formal offers are expected to be finalised and submitted to the Deed Administrators within the next seven days. However, given that none of these offers have yet been presented to us, we are not in a position to disclose the identities of the interested parties or the commercial terms of the expected offers.
Status of the View Group’s DOCA’s and Supreme Court Application
Each of the View Group’s DOCAs remains on foot. However, on 17 March 2009, a creditor of View Gold expressed concern over the status of the DOCAs given that certain key conditions precedent to completion of the DOCAs had not yet been satisfied. In view of the concerns raised, the Deed Administrators applied to the Supreme Court of Western Australia for orders pursuant to section 447A of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) confirming that the DOCAs remained on foot (“the Application”). The orders sought in the Application were necessary to ensure, amongst other things, that the control of the View Group did not return to the hands of its directors (this being undesirable having regard to the obvious insolvency of the View Group) and that the Deed Administrators may proceed with the sale of View Gold’s assets in their capacities as Joint and Several Deed Administrators of View Gold.
The Application, which was heard on Tuesday, 24 March 2009, was successful and the Supreme Court of Western Australia confirmed that the View Group’s DOCAs remain on foot.
For further information regarding the current status of the View Group and the abovementioned Court orders, please refer to the Status Report to Creditors and Circular to Creditors published on 26 March 2009.
Next Milestone and Estimated Timetable:
* Sale of View Gold Pty Ltd’s assets
* Variation or termination of the View Group’s DOCA’s
Likely Outcome for Creditors and Timetable:
Given that View Gold’s assets have not been sold to date, no distribution to creditors of the View Group has occurred. We intend to progress the sale of View Gold’s assets as soon as practicable. We expect that a formal offer will be received within the next seven days and executed shortly thereafter, if approved by AARII. In the event that the offer is approved by AARII and accepted by the Deed Administrators, we will furnish creditors with further details regarding the offer, including the purchaser’s name, consideration payable and other key terms of the sale, as well as the dividend estimate (if any such dividend will be payable) to creditors of the View Group. Based upon the indicative offers that we have received to date, it is unlikely that unsecured creditors of View Gold Pty Ltd will receive any substantive dividend (if any dividend will in fact be payable).