Gerry Harvey's Coomboona dairy investment enters voluntary administration

Coomboona Holdings near Shepparton in northern Victoria had ambitious plans to create a large scale, corporate, intensive dairy operation.
Harvey Norman bought 49.9 per cent Coomboona Holdings in 2015 for $34 million.
In February, Harvey Norman wrote down over $20 million of its investment.
Executive Chairman of receiver, McGrath Nicol, Peter Anderson said that triggered a chain of events that brought down the company.
«Subsequent to (the write down), there was legal action between the shareholders last week and on the back of that process, the shareholders and directors agreed to appoint voluntary administrators.»
McGrath Nicol is now responsible for operating Coomboona Holdings on behalf of the National Australia Bank.
Mr Anderson said the company would continue to trade and it was likely most of the 75 staff at Coomboona would continue to have a job as receivers prepare the business to be sold.
«There is a lot of stock in the business and way more then are actually being milked at the moment,» he said.
«So there actually needs to be some reorganising and reshaping of the operation to match the existing infrastructure and actual milking to occur.»
«At the moment that’s significantly out of whack,» Mr Anderson said.
By: Warwick Long
Source: ABC Rural
Link: http://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2018-03-26/harvey-norman-dairy-coomboona-holdings-enters-administration/9587922