Tech company collapse sparks shareholder battle with $14b chipmaker
Perth-based Nuheara collapsed into administration last August after it was unable to refinance a $2.5 million loan from Realtek, which was its largest shareholder, amid struggling sales and consistent losses.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
West Australian
7 hours ago
- West Australian
Ryan Daniels: Inside Harley Reid's contract talks and the multi-million dollar offers on the table
It wasn't quite high-powered Wall Street execs in Armani suits, marching in to close a billion-dollar deal — but the stakes, in a footy sense, were just as high. Harley's Melbourne-based manager Nick Geischen rolled into town, and while he didn't utter the words 'Show Me the Money', he didn't need to. The phrase was emanating from his $24 million smile. It's been a hectic week in Harley-world, with a somewhat surprising shift in the situation. Earlier this year, the Eagles put forward multiple contract options to Harley's team. Three, five, seven-year deals — a pick-your-own-adventure approach. Nothing came of it. which had people thinking — he's gone. Even before the Eagles drafted him, there was talk Harley would bail. That the Eagles would be better off trading the pick. Victorian journalist Sam McLure now famously declared 'they won't pick him, Mitch (Cleary)' — suggesting West Coast would be better off passing on one of the most prodigious talents the draft has seen in years — just to avoid the inevitable messy exit. It's always been perceived as a matter of when Harley will leave, not if . Then, the twist. Geischen had come bearing gifts — a proposal for West Coast. An 11-year deal. $2.2 million per year, on average. $24 million all up. The largest deal in AFL history. More money per year than Australian cricket captain Pat Cummins. Unprecedented numbers across the board. While it sounds like monopoly money, in 11 years, $2.2 million won't be as crazy as it sounds right now. By then, Harley will be 32 and potentially edging out of his prime — but with the growth of the AFL's salary cap, he might end up a bargain at some stage. Remember, back in 1994 Alastair Lynch signed a ten-year deal for $1 million — at $100,000 per season, people lost their minds at the money. By the time Lynch retired, he was woefully underpaid. As part of this proposed deal, Harley would have the option to leave after two years. If not, he'd be here until the end of 2037. Let that sink in. In 2037 we might actually have flying cars and robot slaves. Or we'll be slaves to the robots. I'll be 54 years old. Bring me a pair of warm slippers, a glass of prune juice, and cap it off with a few episodes of Murder She Wrote. Maybe my idea of what it's like to be 54 is a little dated — but you get the point — 2037 is an eternity away. Harley's people bringing this to the table signals his intention to stay — if terms can be agreed. So, what's changed? Nothing, really. All along we've heard Harley, the Eagles, even his management declare the young midfielder was taking his time, happy in Perth. In recent weeks Reid's form has elevated, he's exhibiting an edge, leadership around the club. He's forming strong bonds with teammates. My understanding is he's told Andrew McQualter he wants to stay. At 20, he's living on his own, cooking, cleaning, he's got a dog. He's handling the media/fan pressure superbly. Some 20-year-olds can barely remember to flush the toilet. This kid is settled. Credit to the Eagles for an environment where a country kid from the other side of Australia feels comfortable, happy. Saying that, nothing is guaranteed here. The new proposal isn't quite a gun to the head, an ultimatum — but it's not miles off it. This is how keeping Harley Reid looks. If that's too rich, there will be other suitors. It's a fairly simple situation — other than the overwhelming commitment. That's the holdup, if there is one. No one saw this coming. Not even the Eagles. The deal, or at least the sheer enormity of it, has blindsided West Coast. They've taken a pause. In the month following the contract proposal landing in their inbox, there's been no response. Some meals take a lot longer to digest, and this is like going to a steak joint and being served an entire cow. Don't panic Eagles fans, they know what they have in Harley. They love him. If they believe they've found the sun which all other planets can rotate around, that he could be their Dustin Martin, their Patrick Dangerfield, then they need to do it. Maybe it's a slight variation of this proposed deal, a happy compromise, but they can't get too cute here. Harley could be the AFL's best player within a few years. Yes, a deal that long, with that kind of financial commitment comes with risk. In my opinion, it's a risk worth taking. This kid is special. He wants to be here and he's box office. After a disastrous four years at the West Coast Eagles, the signature of Harley Reid would be a significant victory and a sign that things might finally be turning around. Years of endless chat about a move back to Victoria for Harley, now the Eagles have a chance to keep their man. They just need to sign on the dotted line.
West Australian
8 hours ago
- West Australian
Federal Government and other creditors facing $300m wipeout on failed mineral sands projects
The Federal Government and other creditors of mineral sands miner Strandline Resources are facing a $300 million wipeout even with the sale of the collapsed company's flagship WA project to Japanese group Iwatani. Iwatani, which already owns South West mineral sands miner Doral, is proposing to take control of the mothballed Coburn mine near Shark Bay from receivers with a $15m cash offer that would see secured creditors repaid less than 5¢ in every dollar they are owed. The deed of company arrangement for Coburn, if approved by creditors next week, would crystallise a loss of about $160m for the project's biggest backer, the government-owned Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility. A statutory report by administrators Cor Cordis into the collapse of Strandline and its operating subsidiary Coburn Resources reveals NAIF is owed $167m, having advanced a final $5m just three months before the miner collapsed in February. With bondholders owed $94m and NAB nearly $17m, secured creditors alone are on the hook for Coburn for $277.5m. Under the DOCA, they would likely collectively recover less than $10m, while 224 unsecured mainly trade creditors would share just $1.5m to settle another $49m of claims. Subject to clarification about which company actually employed them, the deed funds would also be used to pay $5 million in outstanding entitlements owed to nearly 170 employees. The ASX-listed Strandline was put into administration on February 21 after its backers ran out of patience with protracted efforts to address Coburn's poor operating performance and restructure the group's hefty debt. Receivers from McGrathNicol took control of the mine under an almost simultaneous appointment by the secured creditors. Strandline spent $260m developing Coburn to exploit a large tonnage, but low-grade deposit, about 300km north of Geraldton. It entered commercial production in November 2022 but struggled from the start, falling well short of the targets assumed in the feasibility study that underpinned the development. Directors sheeted home blame to various factors, including design and construction flaws, unreliable equipment, labour shortages, and higher-than-expected handling and operating costs. However, administrators Thomas Birch and Jeremy Nipps added that Coburn never produced enough to do better than break even. Strandline and Coburn, they said, 'were reliant on funding from lenders to bridge their collective working capital deficit in circumstances where operations were never generating sufficient cash or gross profit'. Iwatani's was one of two proposals received by McGrathNicol after a sale campaign, with the receivers opting for the Japanese company, partly because its offer was better, it had more certainty and it 'would see the continuation of the Coburn project after a short period of care and maintenance'. Iwatani could not be immediately contacted on Friday.
ABC News
8 hours ago
- ABC News
NT government expands role of G4S private security guards to support overcrowded watch houses
In an expansion of private prison staff responsibilities in the Northern Territory, Department of Corrections employees have heard the duties performed by private security firm G4S will be increased. In March, the NT government signed a six-month contract with G4S to manage the transfer of Darwin prisoners. G4S security guards currently help to transfer inmates between prisons and the courts, as territory correctional staff face record prisoner numbers. Despite a recruitment drive for 202 new corrections officers to be employed inside prisons this financial year, NT Corrections Minister Gerard Maley has previously acknowledged the prison population is growing and that the government needs to expand the workforce. In an internal memo seen by the ABC, corrections staff were told Corrections Commissioner Matthew Varley had signed a work order to expand the duties carried out by private security guards. "As we shape this next phase, we are working closely with G4S to determine what a Northern Territory-based G4S staffing model could look like." The United Workers Union (UWU), which represents corrections officers, has been strongly opposed to the NT's six-month arrangement with G4S since it began in March. UWU NT branch secretary Erina Early said although G4S guards had been assisting with prison transfers since that time, corrections staff had not seen any improvement to their working conditions. "It hasn't made much change to our correctional officers at all because the [prisoner] numbers are increasing," she said. "Bringing in G4S may relieve a couple of shifts, but it's not having the outcome that the government [is] hoping for." Ms Early said union members were worried for "the safety of the prisoners and also safety of the police" — who have a different skillset to correctional officers — and held concerns the expansion of G4S's services signalled growing privatisation in the NT's corrections system. "They've been saying this since it was announced by Commissioner Matthew Varley, that G4S were coming in — as soon as you have them in, it's like a cancer, they will spread," she said. "They have been taking more and more roles." Corrections Minister Gerard Maley last month told the ABC that privatising the entire NT prison system was not on the government's radar. "There are private firms that run prisons in their entirety, that's not our plan at all," he said. "Our plan is to make sure that we have highly trained officers behind the wire, and then independent contractors such as G4S doing the services outside that." The NT's corrections department has been housing a growing number of prisoners in police watch houses in recent months, due to capacity constraints at territory prisons. Earlier this week, there were about 100 people being held inside the Palmerston police watch house, including overflow corrections prisoners. G4S is part of American private security giant Allied Universal, which employs more than 800,000 people internationally and generates about $20 billion in annual revenue. The company describes itself as a "global leader in security". Security guards employed by G4S in Australia mainly work in prisons and detention centres. The firm has operated Victoria's largest maximum security prison, Port Phillip Prison, since it opened in 1997. A 2018 report by the Victorian auditor-general's office found "serious incidents" at Port Phillip Prison, including assaults and drug use, and "exposed weaknesses in how G4S … manage safety and security risks". A Victorian coroner recently recommended G4S improve staff training following the "preventable" 2022 death of an Aboriginal man in his prison cell. Port Phillip Prison is due to close by the end of this year. Last year, G4S reached a confidential settlement with the parents of an Iranian asylum seeker, who was fatally bashed by guards at a Manus Island offshore detention centre in 2014. The company was also fined over its role in the death of an Aboriginal elder, who overheated in the back of a prison van in remote Western Australia in 2008. It is not yet clear how much the NT government's contract with G4S has cost the public.
