Off the wire
• China Hushen 300 index futures close higher Tuesday  • China treasury bond futures close lower Tuesday  • Tokyo stocks reverse earlier losses ending higher  • Chinese shares close higher Tuesday  • 2nd LD Writethru: 10 killed as blast hits check post in Pakistan's Peshawar  • Factbox: China by the numbers 2010 to 2015  • Mexico needs to invest in children under five, says UNICEF  • S. Korea worries about wrong signal to DPRK nuke test  • 1st LD: 9 injured in S.Korea's car pileup accident  • Former China civil aviation official expelled from Party, office  
You are here: 　 Home

Clive Palmer owned refinery forced into administration

Xinhua, January 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

Workers of a struggling nickel processor in northern Australia will join a list of creditors after the company went into voluntary administration, the Australian Workers Union said on Tuesday.

Australia's Queensland Nickel (QNI) went into voluntary administration on Monday, just days after the self-proclaimed billionaire turned politician Clive Palmer announced a major restructure due to record low nickel prices.

Prices for the commodity used in stainless steel have tumbled 40 percent in the last year to their lowest since 2003 amid growing stockpiles and lack of demand.

Palmer, who bought QNI from BHP Billiton in 2009, blamed the restructure and sacking of 237 workers on the refusal of "minimal" assistance from the Queensland state government, asking it to act as guarantor of a 35 million Australian dollar (24.2 million U.S. dollars) loan to avoid closure.

The Queensland state government said Palmer refused to hand over the full financial statements to his business empire, and "could not in all good conscience" guarantee the loan without full financial due diligence.

It was revealed on Tuesday that Palmer had also asked Australia's federal government for a loan guarantee, which was rejected.

"We're not in the practice of bailing out private companies," Australian Resources Minister Josh Frydenberg said.

Australian Workers Union (AWU) secretary Ben Swan told local media on Tuesday, administrators FTI Consulting had painted a "spooky" picture of QNI's financial position.

Swan said the company does not have cash to pay out entitlements, is three months behind on compulsory worker retirement fund payments and 70 million Australian dollars (48.4 million U.S. dollars) in debt.

The sacked workers are planning to list themselves as creditors ahead of a creditors meeting with FTI Consulting in late January.

Palmer's business empire has been under significant financial stress following a failed court bid to force estranged business partner CITIC group to pay a 48 million U.S. dollar advance on disputed royalties from a joint iron ore project.

Lawyers for Palmer's Mineralogy argued it and five other entities, including QNI, would suffer "irreparable harm" if the request was refused.

However, it was recently revealed that QNI had been bankrolling Palmer's political party - the Palmer United Party (PUP), with more than 20 million Australian dollars (13.8 million U.S. dollars) in donations since the 2013/14 financial year.

Palmer defended the donations on social media on Tuesday, saying they were redirected dividend payments. Endit