Wealthy entrepreneur’s mining company in $700m collapse

Perth’s business community has been rocked by the collapse of Griffin Coal, a giant mining company owned by prominent entrepreneur and Rich 200 member, Ric Stowe.

The company, which mines more than five million tonnes of black coal each year, is reported to have missed $30 million in debt and tax payments in the last few days and is now in the hands of insolvency firm Korda Mentha.

Partner Brian McMaster says the business will continue to operate while the state of the company was investigated. KordaMentha will also start talks with creditors, employees, unions and the Western Australian Government.

Today debts have been at $700 million, with the bulk of this (just under $530 million) owed to unsecured US bondholders.

The company employs around 500 people in Western Australia.

“Clearly the company owns an important piece of infrastructure and is a major contributor to the south-west economy,” McMaster told the Australian Financial Review.

“Selling the business as a going concern or restructuring are options being evaluated. It is a very large coal deposit within easy reach of ports and markets.”

Stowe, who was valued at $720 million by BRW magazine last year, is notoriously reclusive and divides half his time between Perth and the tiny European principality of Monaco.

Ric Stowe has been engaged in a long-running battle with the Australian Taxation Office over a $173 million tax bill that was the result of a nine-year investigation into Griffin Coal by the ATO.

This case was settled for a much smaller sum just before the Federal Court was to hear details of Stowe’s financial affairs.