Creditors of Failed Hay Exports Wait on Land Sale

Article by: Hari Yellina

It’s still unclear whether the sale of three properties previously owned by failing SP Hay Australia will assist all creditors in recouping their losses. After expressions of interest ended on March 31, the properties, two in South Australia and one in Western Australia, have now been confirmed as under contract. Stuart Price’s Adelaide-based hay export company is being wound up, with numerous creditors owed $14.5 million. SP Hay Pty Ltd has been wound up after Queensland firm Fromm Packaging was successful in its application to the Brisbane Supreme Court late last year to reclaim $200,000 in unpaid debts.

More than 70 people and businesses, many of them farmers, have been added to the creditors list by liquidator SV Partners. The National Australia Bank, the primary creditor, is one of them. The remaining creditors will only see what is left after the bank has been paid. The failing SP Hay Group’s land and equipment are all for sale. Apart from the huge business, Elders Real Estate is offering 40.5 hectares of land over three sites in Western Australia and South Australia. The Thomas Plain “Paskeville” property in South Australia is now under contract. It’s a massive hay processing and storage complex in Yorke Peninsula.

Hay teasing, mixing, pressing, and unitising equipment are all available at the plant. A big hay warehouse of 5760 square metres was built around 2010. In 2009, the plant was destroyed by a massive fire that cost millions of dollars. The 16-hectare Brookton site in Western Australia also houses a large-scale hay storage and processing complex, which is also listed as under contract. This complex was built around the year 2000, principally to deliver high-quality hay harvested throughout Western Australia to the export hay market. It’s roughly 150 kilometres north of Perth and slightly north of Brookton. Although the failing firm offers a ready-to-run operation in Australia’s major hay-growing regions to a new buyer, it will be dismantled if necessary.