Whitehaven shareholders could be the big losers from Nathan Tinkler’s financial problems as speculation mounts he will have to dump his stock in the coal miner.
A second Tinkler-owned company is facing legal action from a creditor, with fellow coal company Blackwood Corporation announcing on Tuesday it was seeking to appoint liquidators to Mulsanne Resources to recover $28.4 million.
Blackwood granted Mr Tinkler’s Mulsanne more than 94 million of its shares in July in a deal worth $28.4 million.
However Mulsanne never made the payment.
There is speculation Mr Tinkler may sell down his 21.4 per cent stake in Whitehaven as he seeks to meet his mounting debts.
Analysts believe a large proportion of his $626 million Whitehaven stake, worth barely half what it was worth five months ago, was paid for with debt.
That stake also used as collateral for other debt.
“I think the short term losers will probably be shareholders in Whitehaven because more than 20 per cent of the company is at risk,” Patersons Securities analyst Matthew Trivett told AAP.
“If he has to have a firesale, he’s got to find a group of people to take it off his hands at short notice and we all know what happens when people have to sell things in this type of market, they get held to ransom.
“I think there will be some pain involved but I don’t think he’ll lose a lot … I think he will fight it right to the end but there is a chance he will lose a significant portion.”
A lot will depends on whether creditors call in all or only part of his loans, he said.
Mr Tinkler is yet to receive a margin call to force him to sell shares, which had been expected by some to occur because Whitehaven shares have plunged in value by nearly 50 per cent since April.
He has already organised an auction offering around 350 racing industry horses from his farm for auction next month, which is seen as a firesale to address some of his debts.
Property giant Mirvac has successfully sued two of Mr Tinkler’s companies, Ocean Street Holdings and guarantor Buildev Group, in the NSW Supreme Court after they failed to honour a $17 million agreement to buy industrial land for a new coal terminal in Newcastle.
Mirvac has lodged a contempt of court order to seize Mr Tinkler’s assets, due to be heard next month.
Mr Tinkler’s financial woes first became apparent when he dropped a $5.2 billion takeover bid for Whitehaven Coal in August.
There has been speculation he may attempt a proxy battle for control of the board and the company’s direction to improve cashflow.
Mr Tinkler would not comment on Tuesday.
Mr Trivett rejected that idea, saying Mr Tinkler would find it harder to convince shareholders to get rid of Whitehaven’s respected executives or board despite the successful takeovers of Coalworks and Aston Resources’ boards.
“I am not sure he would have support like he did at Aston and Coalworks, I think he’s got his match with (chief executive) Tony Haggarty and (major investor) AMCI and his supporters,” he said.
Whitehaven shares were one cent down at $2.91.
