Sun Cable’s solar project wins lifeline to carry on building
An ambitious plan to power Singapore using Australian solar won another lifeline on Wednesday (Jan 25) after a court in Sydney agreed to a sales process put forward by the project’s administrators.
Sun Cable, a A$30 billion (S$28 billion) business plan backed by two of Australia’s richest people, has less than A$3.6 million in cash and looming bills of more than A$10 million, lawyers for administrators FTI said in Australia’s Supreme Court on Wednesday. The administrators were granted their application to extend the next meeting of creditors until May 31 while a buyer is sought.
Engineering firms and advisers responsible for building the world’s biggest solar farm and a 4,200-kilometre subsea cable to Singapore are expected to bill the business A$6.7 million this month, adding to A$3.98 million the company has already owed since October, the lawyers said. An interest-free interim loan of A$65 million from Mike Cannon-Brookes that was announced last week is expected to help Sun Cable continue operations until a new owner can be found.
Sun Cable filed for voluntary administration earlier this month after disagreement between tech mogul Cannon-Brookes and mining magnate Andrew Forrest over terms for providing further funds to the project’s next and largest stage. Investment bank MA Financial is searching for a buyer, and both Cannon-Brookes and Forrest are thought to be among likely bidders.
The largest creditor, a firm named Guardian, is owed nearly A$10 million, making it nearly as large as all other parties combined, including Sun Cable’s 93 employees, the lawyers said. BLOOMBERG
KEYWORDS IN THIS ARTICLE
BT is now on Telegram!
For daily updates on weekdays and specially selected content for the weekend. Subscribe to t.me/BizTimes
Energy & Commodities
Shell maintains pace of buybacks as profit beats estimates
Gold prices drift higher as Fed stands pat on key interest rate
Oil falls to 7-week low on surprise US storage build, Middle East hopes
US, Philippines eye agreement to cut China nickel dominance
Oil eases on higher US crude output, hopes of Israel-Hamas ceasefire
Glencore now sees FY trading division profit between US$3 billion-US$3.5 billion