Fallen mogul to fight hedge funds’ property grab
FALLEN rich-lister Nathan Tinkler says he will head to court to challenge an attempt by hedge funds to seize control of property owned by one of his companies.
FTI Consulting has been appointed agents for the mortgagee in possession over about $10m worth of properties in Coffs Harbour, owned by Mr Tinkler’s Noorinya Holdings.
Noorinya Holdings is trustee for the Noorinya Holdings Trust — which FTI says is an entity associated with Mr Tinkler, a former coal magnate.
Mr Tinkler said he planned to launch action in the Supreme Court of NSW to challenge the appointment, saying the seizure was the result of a long-running dispute stemming from the holdover from the margin loan over his shares in Aston Resources, called in by creditors in 2012 after Aston merged with Whitehaven Coal.
FTI said the property seizure came at the behest of Hong Kong hedge fund Pok Hong Limited, associated with businessman Kin Chan, who helped bankroll Mr Tinkler’s buy-up of coal mines that catapulted the Queenslander on to the list of richest Australians by 2011.
Companies associated with Mr Chan are believed to have been buying debt associated with the $550m worth of margin loans that triggered the collapse of Mr Tinkler’s empire, and now claim to be owed $500m by the former coal baron.
In a statement, FTI’s Joseph Hansell said his appointment came after Mr Tinkler’s creditors had made “multiple attempts over an extended period of time to resolve the various defaults under the loan facilities”.
“This is an unfortunate situation and this action is not taken lightly, and is a last resort for the secured creditor to seek repayment of long and significant outstanding debt balances,” Mr Hansell said.
Mr Tinkler said the claim was “complete rubbish”.