THE Government appears to have clamped down on its $140 million acquisition plan for prime land jointly owned by Levers Solomon Ltd [LSL] and Russell Islands Plantation Estates Ltd (RIPEL).
The two entities – LSL and RIPEL – own an estimated 2, 050 hectares of land on Guadalcanal and Russell Islands in Central Islands Province, according to published document.
Attempts to obtain comments by the Investment Corporation of Solomon Islands (ICSI) and liquidator, Hall Chadwick of Sydney, on the progress if any, on the buy-back scheme have gone unanswered since February 10 and 11 this year.
On February 10, Solomon Star sent an email to a Mike Willesee of Hall Chadwick. The email is reproduced below:
“Dear Mr. Willesee,
Good morning
We last communicated in November last year. Since then, I had a problem with space issue which forced me to change my email address. As a result, I can only receive email messages but I could never respond.
“This email is to see if there’s been any movement in terms of resolution of your engagement fees since we last communicated in November, if not what is the status of play? Please note my new email address
I look forward to hearing from you.”
On the evening the next day, February 11, Solomon Star emailed the Chief Executive of ICSI, Tukana Bovoro.
“Evening Sir,
Trust all is well. I have had some issues with my email from last December so much so that when a new email address was created, all my contacts including yours were erased.
“To cut a long story short, I have since been out of the loop on the issue regarding the liquidation and the lawyer ICSI has hired to sort out the mess. In short, what is the status of play given that things have been so deafeningly quiet?
“Is Hall Chadwick as liquidator out of the picture [now] or is it a lull before the storm? Would appreciate your insight, please?”
Neither has responded thus far.
It was on 7 June 2024 that ICSI engaged a Sydney lawyer to “provide advice on the 100 per cent acquisition of a corporate group which includes Australian companies that are presently in liquidation and receivership (Acquisition),” according to an overview provided by the lawyer.
“Those companies own equity interests in Levers Solomon Islands, a company incorporated in the Solomon Islands, which in turn owns land titles located in Solomon Islands that the Government is seeking to acquire and control through ICSI,” the lawyer said in the Overview.
“The Australian companies relevant to the Acquisition Plan are Orbis Commodities Pty Ltd (administrators appointed) receivers and managers appointed and Pacific Holding Pty Ltd (administrators appointed (receivers and managers appointed (together, Van Vlymen Entities), as well as Overseas Shipping Trading and Investment Pty Ltd (“Wong Entity”), it said.
“The Van Vlymen Entities are both in liquidation (Hall Chadwick appointed) and receivership (Grant Thornton appointed on instructions of interests associated with Patrick Wong (“Wong Interests”). The Wong Entity is ultimately owned by the Wong Interests.
“This document consolidates advice that we have provided to ICSI following our review of the information listed in 3.1. A plan for the intended acquisition of the Van Vlymen Entities and the Wong Entity has been prepared which is outlined in this document (“Acquisition Plan”) at section 3.”
According to the document, the Government’s Acquisition plan includes four separate phases- the first of which is the production and delivery of the report to ICSI.
“Phases 3 and 4 will follow and will require further authorisations from Government, which are not sought at this stage.
“In summary, the Acquisition Plan involves the transaction of the liquidations of the Van Vlymen Entities to administration, ICSI proposing a deed of company settlement [“DOCA”] to recapitalise and purchase sole ownership of the shares in the Van Vlymen Entities. Interconditionally, ICSI will acquire the Wong Entity from the Wong Interests and reach agreement with them to acquire their secured debt claim,” the document said.
To go through with the Acquisition, confirmation and authorisation are required from the Government, as owner and ultimate controller of ICSI, it said.
As well, it required:
- Confirmation of approval in principle of the Acquisition Plan, based on the materials in this Report;
- Authorisation of Mr. John Muria Jr, Attorney General, Mr. Tukana Bovoro, Acting General Manager of ICSI, Alan McNeil, the Commissioner of Lands to issue instructions on behalf of ICSI for the purposes of implementing the Acquisition Plan;
- Authorisation of the transfer of an amount of cleared funds to the KWM trust account, to be held to ICSI trust account and applied in accordance with ICSI’s instruction to KWM for the purposes of the Acquisition (“Trust Deposit”). The Government will confirm the amount to be transferred separately to ICSI, once determined;
- Authorisation of ICSI to determine the ownership and capitalization of a proprietary limited Australian company to be incorporated in New South Wales, Australia.
The fact that ICSI and Hall Chadwick have not responded to our emails may suggest the government has run into serious problem in financing the Acquisition.
By Alfred Sasako
