Negotiations for the sale of the Liberty Bell Bay smelter will continue as new funding is sought. Photo: Liberty Bell Bay.
A consortium of possible buyers for Tasmania’s troubled Liberty Bell Bay manganese alloy smelter has stepped back from exclusive negotiations with the plant’s administrators.
The plant, on the Tamar River north of Launceston, is Australia’s only domestic producer of manganese alloy, which is critical for steelmaking.
Liberty Bell Bay has been in receivership since January and under administration by Ernst & Young (EY) Parthenon since March, when the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) sought to wind up the plant owner, GFG Alliance.
In late May, a joint federal and state statement announced that administrator EY Parthenon had selected a consortium led by Adroit Capital as its preferred bidder for the plant, and that it had entered into exclusive negotiations with the group.
The announcement coincided with a further $5 million funding injection into the plant to support its 200 employees, bringing the total support from the Albanese and Rockliff governments to $9.6 million, following earlier contributions of $3 million on 24 April and $1.6 million on 15 May.
On 12 June, Federal Minister for Industry and Innovation Tim Ayres and Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff said Adroit Capital had withdrawn from the consortium and was no longer engaged in exclusive negotiations with the administrators.
“This is disappointing news for the workers and communities of Bell Bay, George Town and Northern Tasmania, who have been in limbo since the previous facility owners, GFG, let them down,” the statement reads.
But on 15 June, reports indicated that, while exclusive talks may have broken down, the administrators were still engaged with the consortium and new funding was being sought.
Assistant Secretary of the Tasmanian branch of the Australian Workers’ Union Robert Flanagan told the ABC that a six-week funding commitment had given the workers hope that a sale agreement could be reached.
“There is a level of certainty for the next six weeks,” he said. “During the next six weeks, the administration process will be funded.
“Workers have had a very difficult weekend; their expectation was their employment would be terminated today … it’s a welcome reprieve.
“It means that again there is a pathway forward, potentially. To have some certainty for the next six weeks is something really valued by the workforce.”
Mr Flanagan told the ABC that the employees would meet with the administrators again on Thursday (18 June) for an update.
“There are a lot of questions workers have around some of the details,” he said.
“What is most important at the moment is the administration’s funding is in place, which means there is still an active sale process in place … which means there is potentially still a future for Liberty Bell Bay.”
