Reuters: Bankruptcy News: Australian tycoon Tinkler agrees to settle Blackwood lawsuit

Reuters: Bankruptcy News Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Australian tycoon Tinkler agrees to settle Blackwood lawsuit Jun 4th 2013, 05:38 SYDNEY, June 4 | Tue Jun 4, 2013 1:38am EDT SYDNEY, June 4 (Reuters) - Embattled Australian mining mogul Nathan Tinkler has reached a settlement with coal miner Blackwood Corp Ltd over a failed share placement deal, likely avoiding a financially damaging court battle. Blackwood said on Tuesday that it would drop a A$28 million ($27 million) claim against Tinkler's Mulsanne Resources in return for a A$12 million settlement package. The Blackwood case was the most high profile of a series of lawsuits brought against Tinkler over missed payments and failed deals. Tinkler, once the poster boy for Australia's mining boom, has swung from his position as Australia's youngest billionaire to faltering debtor in just a few months after his undiversified portfolio was left heavily exposed to plummeting coal prices. The New South Wales Supreme Court appointed liquidators after Mulsanne failed to follow through on an agreement to buy a one-third stake in Blackwood for A$28.4 million last year. Blackwood last month launched a lawsuit against Tinkler and fellow directors of privately owned Mulsanne for insolvent trading. The miner was also seeking to have all assets owned by Tinkler and a trust controlled by his wife frozen until the end of the case. If the court had found the company was conducting business while not having funds to meet all its obligations, Tinkler could have faced penalties that might have forced him to sell down his 19 percent stake in Whitehaven Coal Ltd, now worth around A$350 million. Mulsanne directors had denied allegations of trading while insolvent. At hearings in March, Tinkler said he thought he was going to have funds to pay for the Blackwood shares from a deal he had proposed to Hong Kong-based trading firm Noble Group Ltd The deal with Noble did not go ahead and he admitted there had never been any written agreement with Noble. Tinkler has until June 30 to make the payment, otherwise the court case will proceed and Blackwood will pursue an asset-freezing order. Tinkler's company, Tinkler Group, said in a statement that it was "pleased to have agreed to settle this matter to each side's satisfaction." Blackwood shares were unchanged at A$0.05. ($1 = 1.0298 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Jane Wardell; Editing by Chris Gallagher) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions