Australian Whisky Holdings has reached an agreement with FTI Consulting, the receivers for Nant Distillery, who were appointed by Eclipx Commercial Pty Ltd.
The agreement is in respect to the long-running Federal Court proceedings between AWH and FTI and in particular with regards to the ownership of certain plant and equipment located at the Nant Estate premises and intellectual property, which are the subject to the dispute in the court proceedings.
In a statement to the ASX, AWH revealed that it will pay $1.7m for the distillery assets, which Eclipx will put towards reducing the debt it is owed by NAW Distillery.
The agreement also sets out the payment terms for AWH to Eclipx for the assets and sets that until the full payment is made Eclipx will retain security over the assets.
In the ASX statement, AWH said: “The transactions required by the Settlement Agreement reflect, in substance, the arrangements previously reached between AWY and NAW Distillery with respect to the Distillery Assets. The Settlement Agreement has been reached with the cooperation of the receivers and Eclipx.”
The Settlement Agreement requires the completion of the transaction on 31 July 2017, and FTI Consulting told TheShout it is happy to have worked through the agreement with AWH.
Senior Managing Director with FTI Consulting, Quentin Olde, told TheShout: “This is a commercial settlement to a complex matter. We’re pleased to have reached agreement, and look forward to the transaction completing at the end of July.”
With this agreement in place AWH said it will now focus on producing and selling Nant brands and will continue its work with the Nant barrel investment scheme.
“[AWH]’s focus will be on the continuing production, marketing and selling of whisky products as distilled at the Nant Estate under the Nant brands,” the company said.
“[AWH] will also continue to manage the barrel investment scheme and has been progressively acquiring whisky from Nant barrel scheme investors.
“[AWH] further advises that decanting and bottling of [AWH]-owned Nant whisky and bottling will once again commence at the renowned [AWH]-owned Nant Estate located at Bothwell, Tasmania.”