Australia’s Silver Heritage has been working diligently for the past year to try to avoid bankruptcy. Last May, it brought in KPMG to put all of its operations under a microscope and it didn’t take long before the powerhouse determined some of the initial changes that needed to be made. Fast-forward to 2021 and KPMG is assisting with a transition that puts new board directors in place at Silver Heritage, with the hope that they will be able to steer the company to prosperity.
Amanda Coneyworth and Ryan Eagle were assigned by KPMG to lead the charge at Silver Heritage and they delivered an announcement to the Australian Security Exchange (ASX) last Friday, describing the results of some of their efforts. Following the approval of a takeover bid last November submitted by HatchAsia, Silver Heritage’s former board of directors, including former CEO Mike Bolsover, Chairman Matthew Hunter and fellow director Darryl Kaplan, is out and a new board of directors is in. Now taking charge are six new directors, including Kirk A. Arambulo, Rafael Jose D. Consing, Jr., Ramon C. Garcia, Jr., Rodney Hall, Ross Keeling Jackes and James Campbell Edwards.
Arambulo is currently the president and CEO of HatchAsia, while Garcia is an executive director of DFNN, HatchAsia’s parent company. Consing is the senior VP and chief financial officer of a company founded by Bloomberry Resorts Corp. chairman and CEO Enrique Razon, International Container Terminal Services, Inc. The transition was made possible following a formal change of deed in Silver Heritage’s charter and all control has been given to the new directors, according to KPMG’s announcement.
What lies ahead for Silver Heritage isn’t clear and there will undoubtedly be a lot of movement happening internally. The new board had already begun to dig in and figure out the best course of action late last year, but now have the legal backing to make any changes. One possibility that has been on the table for years is the possible sale of the company, or, at a minimum, parts of its operations; however, the new board might want to see if it can make the company competitive again before it throws in the towel.
Silver Heritage announced to the ASX last week that it was going to issue over 53 million ordinary shares to attract funds. 51.3 million will go to HatchAsia to “facilitate the proposed restructure of the company,” while the destination of the remaining shares wasn’t specified in the recent filing. The issuance followed a General Meeting held by the company last December, but the amount of money collected isn’t that much compared to what Silver Heritage needs. The filing indicated that the issuance would result in just $406,492 (AUD$530,000) in cash being raised.
