Interest in acquiring Timbercorp's assets has been high on the back of its appointment of voluntary administrator KordaMentha.
"There has been quite a deal of interest and that's not surprising as the assets are good, but it all comes down to price and seeing whether it's in the best interests of the company to sell," KordaMentha spokesperson Mike Smith told InvestorDaily.
Select Harvests told the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) it had commenced discussions with KordaMentha concerning the potential acquisition of Timbercorp's almond assets.
The administrators have suspended all horticultural operations, including the management of Timbercorp's almond operations by Select Harvests.
"We believe this course of action is best to ensure a favourable outcome for Select Harvest shareholders," the statement to the ASX said.
It was reported in The Australian Financial Review that Futuris was interested in purchasing assets, but the rural company has since backtracked.
"We don't see ourselves as an acquirer of land. Should the opportunity come up through the process of administration to manage Timbercorp's plantations, then we would certainly assess the opportunity to pursue that," Futuris corporate investor relations manager Don Murchland said.
Concerned creditors have also been contacting KordaMentha.
"Most of our calls have been from grower-investors and their advisors. There are about 18,000 who have investments," Smith said.
"Many of them have loans with Timbercorp to finance their investments, so they have dual interests. So in one sense they are creditors and debtors."
A creditors' meeting will be held early next week.
Timbercorp has been hurt by the Howard Government's announcement in February 2007 that tax breaks on non-forestry managed investment schemes would be axed because of a reinterpretation of tax law, according to Smith.
