Australia

A Canadian public-sector pension fund has joined a forestry management firm in a C$415 million (A$415 million) acquisition of Australian timber lands, capitalizing on a failed government investment scheme, the companies said on Thursday, Reuters reported. Alberta Investment Management Corp and a fund run by Australia's New Forests Pty Ltd are buying the timberland assets of Great Southern Plantations, which include more than 2,500 square km (965 square miles) of land in forestry and agricultural regions in six states. The pair are buying the assets out of receivership.

The besieged pub sector has gone from bad to worse with industry claims that up to 90 per cent of pubs currently on the market are facing some sort of financial pressure, The Australian reported. The estimate, along with 2011 forecasts of a further softening of yields -- which have already caused a 40 per cent fall in pub values -- is the latest setback for the debt-laden sector which last week claimed its latest scalp, Sydney's Icon Hospitality Group of companies.

Perth property developer Luke Saraceni transferred $1.33 million into one of his private companies as receivers prepared to swoop on the troubled Raine Square project last week, creditors were told yesterday, The Australian reported. Administrator Bryan Hughes, of Pitcher Partners, said he was investigating the transaction, which was likely to fall under the insolvency transaction provisions of the Corporations Act.

The listed pub fund ING Real Estate Entertainment Fund’s chances of ever getting millions of dollars in rent from its largest tenant appear slim, after Icon Hospitality was placed into receivership today, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. Icon, which owns the leasehold to 11 hotels in and around Sydney, was placed into receivership by its bankers, Commonwealth Bank. It is owned by prominent hoteliers Damien Reed and Peter Wynne, and owes more than $60 million to the bank.

Receivers for Burrup Fertilisers are examining whether an Australia-India extradiction treaty could be used against Pankaj Oswal, The Australian reported. Mr Oswal left Australia just before ANZ Bank appointed receivers to his fertiliser empire on December 17. He confirmed at the weekend that he and his family would not return to Perth. He said he was living in New Delhi but may relocate to Dubai, close to where he has plans to develop a $400 million caustic soda plant in Oman.

Receivers have been appointed to the $500 million Raine Square office/retail tower project in Perth, which was being jointly developed by rich list member Luke Saraceni and fellow property developer Hossean Pourzard, SmartCompany.com.au reported. Major lender Bankwest – which has also signed on as the 20-storey tower's major tenant – called in receivers Mark Korda and Cliff Rocke of insolvency firm Korda Mentha in conjunction with fellow lender Bank of Scotland.

The convoluted saga of debt-laden Australian shopping-center owner Centro Properties Group has taken yet another twist: Most of the banks set to decide Centro's fate by December have been replaced by hedge funds and other opportunistic investors, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Gone are most of the lenders that originated Centro's roughly $5.5 billion in unsecured debt coming due at the end of this year, having sold their positions in recent months.

Tasmania's largest private ambulance service is facing insolvency, ABC News reported. Ambulance Private's owner blames the State Government and says Ambulance Tasmania will need millions of dollars to pick up the thousands of patients his company transports every year. A State Government review in 2007 recommended Ambulance Tasmania stop outsourcing non-emergency patient transport to private companies and set up its own business unit. As a result, Ambulance Private's managing director David Watson says his company will go under within a week.

The Advanced Medical Institute, the failed erectile dysfunction firm infamous for its billboards, owed staff and creditors more than $50 million when it collapsed last month, the company's administrator says, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. And in a move to appease the competition regulator, unhappy customers will now also be able to obtain refunds more easily after the administrator extended the company's refund policy to 30 days.

A silent partner in collapsed medical services firm Advanced Medical Institute Pty Ltd (AMI) has been linked to the disappearance of $118 million in superannuation finds to a Caribbean bank account, according to a Fairfax Media report, the Business Spectator reported. According to the report, American born Hong Kong trader Jack Flader controls a group with a 50 per cent interest in AMI. Mr Flader is allegedly the mastermind behind collapsed firm Astarra Strategic Fund, part of the Trio Capital group based in country New South Wales.