Bandanna announced yesterday it resolved to appoint Grant Sparks, Martin Ford and Phillip Carter of PPB Advisory as joint and several voluntary administrators of the BND Group consisting of Bandanna Energy, Bandanna Coal, Springsure Property Holdings and Springsure Creek Coal.
Sparks also said yesterday that the administrators were working with BND Group’s management team to fully understand the options available to the group, which may include seeking expressions of interest to buy the business and assets, a restructure or recapitalisation of the group.
In a triumphant tweet, Lock the Gate tweeted yesterday: “Bandanna Energy in voluntary admin. Now to save golden triangle cropping land from Springsure Creek #coal mine.”
It has been the end of a long saga for Bandanna, with Golden Triangle farmers accusing the company in April last year of a “rushed job” on its environmental impact statement for the Springsure Creek mine project.
Bandanna managing director Michael Gray said at the time: "We are confident our 5100-page EIS was rigorous and comprehensive."
Bandanna announced in June this year it had been in formal discussions with Credit Suisse AG to restructure the senior secured guarantee facility agreement, which secures the take or pay obligations of Springsure Creek Coal to Wiggins Island Coal Export Terminal for ship loading capacity and to Aurizon for rail access.
The company hoped to be Australia’s next coal producer as the only Australian Securities Exchange-listed company with substantial coal assets in the Bowen and Galilee basins subject to EIS and advanced mine studies.
Bandanna said that during this period of negotiations, the company “vigorously explored alternative funding sources, including from Credit Suisse, existing and potential new major equity investors and also explored opportunities for binding commitments to asset sales”.
It was also well advanced on the two matters most often cited as obstacles by potential investors, namely, securing a deferral of WICET obligations and Aurizon take-or-pay obligations and resolving landholder objections and impediments toward the award of the mining lease.
Alas, after what it called constructive work with Credit Suisse, Bandanna’s board decided it wasn’t able to continue as a going concern, “with no direct improvement in Bandanna’s financial position and with limited ability to raise additional funds to progress the grant of the mining lease”.
“Over the past few years, the BND Group has made substantial progress towards the development of the Springsure Creek project including obtaining EIS approval from the Queensland government, environmental approval from the Commonwealth government and broad support from the local community and local government,” Bandanna chairman John Pegler said.
“Unfortunately, progress has been impacted by delayed approval of the Springsure Creek mining lease and the deepening cyclical decline in seaborne thermal coal prices, which together have further exacerbated delays in investor interest and participation.”
In a statement, Bandanna’s board thanked employees and the management team, led by Gray, for their “relentless and energetic efforts during extremely challenging market conditions” and thanked stakeholders for their “strong and patient support”
