Auspine, IOOF settle case
Timber group Auspine and IOOF Australia Trustees have reached a settlement in their
year-long legal dispute over a South Australian forestry investment scheme.
Timber group Auspine and IOOF Australia Trustees have reached a settlement in their
year-long legal dispute over a South Australian forestry investment scheme.
The agreement, which follows legal action in the South Australian Supreme Court, the Federal Court and the High Court, sets out the terms upon which the scheme will op-erate until it is wound up in about 15 years.
IOOF - acting for about 25,000 covenant holders in the Sapfor scheme which dates back to the 1920s - had claimed up to $40 million in damages over the management and harvesting of timber plantations by Auspine and associated companies.
Under the settlement, Auspine will pay $12 million in the nature of timber proceeds in 27 instalments, concluding in 2005.
The parties have also agreed to set prices for logs sold under the investment scheme and for the annual maintenance of the plantations.
Auspine chairman Geoffrey Hill, whose company has racked up a legal bill of about $4 million during the dispute, says Auspine is satisfied with the outcome.
Recommended for you
The Financial Services and Credit Panel has made a written direction after advice regarding non-concessional contributions meant an individual was forced to withdraw over $330,000 from their super.
Merchant Wealth’s David Haintz has described how the firm differs from the traditional private equity ventures jumping into Australia, and why M&A isn’t like Married at First Sight.
ASIC has been granted permission to shut down almost 100 websites running investment scams, with the Federal Court describing how its victims were “fattened like pigs to slaughter”.
An Adelaide-based financial planning and accounting firm is set to merge into Count Adelaide, aligning with Count’s ambitions to form a national footprint of scaled equity partnerships.
