Mirabela Nickel Limited (In Liquidation)

Background information

Martin Jones and Darren Weaver were appointed Joint and Several Voluntary Administrators of Mirabela Nickel Limited (MBN) and its subsidiary Mirabela Investments Pty Ltd (MBI) on 24 September 2015 pursuant to Section 436A of the Corporations Act 2001.

The First Concurrent Meetings of Creditors of the Companies was held on 7 October 2015. At these meetings, the appointment of Darren Weaver and Martin Jones as Administrators of the Companies was confirmed and Committees of Creditors formed for each company. The members of the Committees are as tabled below:

A resolution was passed at the first Committee of Creditor meetings held concurrently on 19 October 2015 to extend of the convening periods for the second meetings of creditors of the Companies to 29 December 2015 given the following:

• The complexities of the administrations given the Companies’ interests are in a Brazilian operated Nickel mine.
• Jurisdictional issues to be considered in light of a potential restructuring involving both Australian and Brazilian entities, as well as secured creditors based in the United States.
• To allow sufficient time for the Administrators to consider the merits of marketing of the Companies’ assets and work with funding/restructuring participants.
• To allow for sufficient time to negotiate a sale or formulate a deed of company arrangement (DOCA) proposal.
• To conduct an independent valuation of the Brazilian mining assets.

Since that time a second application was made to the Court and the orders sought were granted on 22 December 2015 to further extend the convening period from 29 December 2015 to 31 March 2016. This was to allow the R&M sufficient time to secure a buyer for the Santa Rita Nickel Project and for a DOCA to be formulated. Accordingly, the second meetings of creditors of the Companies are required to be held on, or before, 7 April 2016.

Scott Langdon, Martin Madden and Richard Tucker of KordaMentha were appointed Receivers and Managers of the Companies on 28 October 2015 pursuant to a registered security granted in favour of AET Structured Finance Services Pty Ltd. As a consequence, the Receivers and Managers are now in control of the Companies’ affairs and are conducting a sale process. Any queries in respect of the current trading affairs of the Companies and/or the sale program should be directed to mirabela@kordamentha.com or +61 8 9220 9333.

On 29 March 2016, the Administrator issued his report to creditors prepared pursuant to s439A of the Act. The second meetings of creditors were held concurrently on 7 April 2016 where creditors resolved to adjourn the Second Meetings for a period not exceeding forty-five (45) business days.

On 2 June 2016, the Administrator issued his supplementary report to creditors pursuant to s439A of the Act which recommended that, in the absence of a DOCA proposal being put forward, the Companies should be wound up. The reconvened Second Meetings of creditors were held concurrently on 13 June 2016 where creditors resolved to wind up the Companies and appoint Martin Jones as the Liquidator.

Separately for Shareholders of MBN, we have included the ASIC’s insolvency guide for shareholders in the Documents section below, which will assist in clarifying the VA process.