Latest / Best of Business / George Adams: Synlait chairperson ahead of Thursday's vote to approve $130 million loan from Bright Dairy

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George Adams: Synlait chairperson ahead of Thursday's vote to approve $130 million loan from Bright Dairy · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talk sed B.
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  Speaker 2: Well Teetering dairy processing company Sinlay's do or die shareholder
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  Speaker 2: voters this Thursday, and a major shareholder is keeping mum
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  Speaker 2: on how they'll vote. The vote is on whether to
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  Speaker 2: accept one hundred and thirty million dollar loan from Bright Dairy,
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  Speaker 2: which itself phones thirty nine percent of Sinlay, in order
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  Speaker 2: to repay some bank loans before they become due next week.
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  Speaker 2: So Bright Dairy can't vote as they have a conflict
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  Speaker 2: of interest, so fifty one percent of the remaining shareholders
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  Speaker 2: need to approve the loan for it to go through.
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  Speaker 2: A two Milk, which has been feuding with Sinley since
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  Speaker 2: last year, is Sinlay's second biggest shareholder and hasn't said
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  Speaker 2: how it'll cast its votes. George Adams is the chair
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  Speaker 2: of sin Lane. He's with me now Hi George Hi
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  Speaker 2: for Jessica. So if this loan doesn't get shareholder approval, what.
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  Speaker 3: Happens pretty much are runing at a runway frances On
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  Speaker 3: on Sinlay, So who know what it brings in to
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  Speaker 3: really the future viability of the business and we'd have
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  Speaker 3: to sit there and have a very hard conversation with
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  Speaker 3: our bank and obviously our other shareholder Bright. They might
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  Speaker 3: have some thoughts, but ultimately then it brings into question
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  Speaker 3: things like voluntary administration or receivership.
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  Speaker 2: Are you sure that you can get the money from
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  Speaker 2: Bright Dairy.
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  Speaker 3: A lot of Sure you get the money from Bright
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  Speaker 3: Dairy for sure for one hundred and thirty million dollars.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, shouldn't this be a glorified rubber stamp from the shareholders?
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  Speaker 2: If I don't want their investment to evaporate, then they
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  Speaker 2: have to approve it, right, you describe.
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  Speaker 3: It particularly particularly sensibly, So I think it should be.
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  Speaker 3: But clearly I can't. You know, as a director, I'm
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  Speaker 3: setting you're at the best really at shareholder. So they
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  Speaker 3: need to tell me what they want to do going forward,
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  Speaker 3: and obviously the vote on Thursday gives them the opportunity
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  Speaker 3: to do that, and I very much would hope that
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  Speaker 3: they would vote for it.
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  Speaker 2: Have you asked A two what they're going to do?
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  Speaker 3: Oh? I mean we're in constant dialogue with they two,
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  Speaker 3: and they're very much aware of the fact that the
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  Speaker 3: vote is on Thursday. And look, there's really not anything
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  Speaker 3: particularly mackivaliant about it. They just simply have not told
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  Speaker 3: us what way they are going to vote. They may
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  Speaker 3: vote for, they may vote against, they may understaind I
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  Speaker 3: just don't know. So hopefully we'll find that out before Thursday.
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  Speaker 2: Why haven't they told you, Well, you have to ask.
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  Speaker 3: Them that, but you know they do have to frankly,
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  Speaker 3: but it is a piece of material information and we
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  Speaker 3: are required to give that level of material information to
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  Speaker 3: the market if we have it. That's the reason for
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  Speaker 3: the announcements. And to think, you.
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  Speaker 2: Say you'll need a good turnout of A two doesn't
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  Speaker 2: vote the way you want, do you think you will
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  Speaker 2: get a good turnout?
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  Speaker 3: I mean, you can never anticipate, to be honest, to contesta.
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  Speaker 3: So what you try to do is try to give
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  Speaker 3: shareholders as much opportunity to have their say a possible,
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  Speaker 3: which is one of Williams you and I are talking.
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  Speaker 3: But clearly the balance of our shareholders, who own around
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  Speaker 3: forty one percent of their business, if they don't get
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  Speaker 3: out and vote, and A two, for example, voted against,
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  Speaker 3: then really they've wantly got themselves to to to to blame.
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  Speaker 3: So what we want to do is we want to
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  Speaker 3: make sure that there's regrets on Friday morning that they've
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  Speaker 3: put out and they've had their say.
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  Speaker 2: Is that the most important thing that you want the
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  Speaker 2: shareholders to know, George? Anything else?
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  Speaker 3: Pretty much? That's it is. It's it's do or die
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  Speaker 3: on Thursday. We really appreciate if you tell us what
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  Speaker 3: you what, what what way you want to vote on Thursday?
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  Speaker 2: If you get your way? How long will this money last?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, is is this going to uh you change
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  Speaker 2: the future? Or are you going to be requiring more
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  Speaker 2: input at some point?
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  Speaker 3: Oh? No, we've been. We've we've been, We've been super clear, Francally,
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  Speaker 3: this is this. This just buys us time to put
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  Speaker 3: the rest of our deleveraging proposals into place. Ideally, clearly,
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  Speaker 3: this gets us through the life down for the banks,
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  Speaker 3: and then post that we will be coming back to
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  Speaker 3: the market with a view on an equity riz. We're
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  Speaker 3: just working through that and whenever we have a full
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  Speaker 3: details on that, we'll we'll come back to the market.
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  Speaker 3: But for sure, this this is this is the first step.
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  Speaker 3: This isn't but this is not the full the full solution.
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  Speaker 2: George bast of Black on Thursday.
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  Speaker 3: Thanks hope you will.
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  Speaker 2: Cheers. That was George Adams. He was the chair of
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  Speaker 2: SIN Live.
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