Field narrows for Balmaine Gold as Hall Chadwick collects bids

afr.com:

The race to buy Balmaine Gold, owner of Ballarat’s last gold mine, has narrowed to a handful of bidders from at least 25 who took an early look.

Sovereign Hill in Ballarat. The town has had a long association with gold. 

Hall Chadwick would collect bids on Tuesday evening, which is expected to see London’s Acheron Capital go toe to toe with at least three other suitors, sources said.

Hugh Morgan’s Arete Capital and entities linked to businessman Yao Liang have been progressing through the auction. There was also a West Australian suitor in the mix, but their identity wasn’t known.

It will be interesting to see if the four suitors lob binding bids. In particular, Yao Liang knows the asset well, being the executive vice chairman and major shareholder of Balmaine’s Singapore-listed owner Shen Yao.

For their part, Arete and Acheron were lenders to Balmaine. They issued debt default notices in the month preceding appointment of administrators in early March. Hall Chadwick finally kicked off the sale process in July.

The Ballarat mine employs about 200 people. It has been riddled with operational troubles – including capacity issues with its tailings dam and Worksafe Victoria interventions after mine accidents – which have affected production. Since, 2021 the condition has worsened as its parent, Shen Yao, struggled to keep its head above the water as a going concern.