Does this qualify??
http://news.asiaone.com/News/The%2BBusin...99096.html
http://www.asiaone.com/News/Education/St...39890.html
(SINGAPORE) A Temasek Holdings investment Down Under has gone under - a victim not just of the credit crunch but also dubious management.
Childcare operator ABC Learning Centres said yesterday that it has gone into receivership and appointed voluntary administrators to help clear a mountain of debt.
Reports are emerging that founder Eddy Groves, who was ousted in September, ran ABC's operations in such an 'opaque' way that potential rescuers find the business model hard to decipher.
ABC has also been attacked over related-party transactions. Mr Groves' former brother-in-law had a A$170 million (S$174 million) maintenance and renovation contract for ABC's childcare centres, and the service company lists its principal place of business as Mr Groves' Brisbane apartment.
Reports yesterday said the directors of ABC - the largest childcare centre operator in Australia and second-largest in the US - has appointed Ferrier Hodgson Group voluntary administrator.
Temasek Holdings is ABC's second-largest shareholder. In May last year, the Singapore investment company spent A$401.5 million or A$7.30 a share on a 12 per cent stake. Then early this year - as the stock sank - Temasek increased its stake to 14.7 per cent. This has since been pared to 12.68 per cent, after ABC completed an A$82 million equity placement in June.
Temasek Holdings spokeswoman Myrna Thomas said yesterday: 'We note the serious development announced by ABC Learning Centres. We are monitoring the situation closely and will explore all options available to us.'
Lazard Asset Management is ABC's largest shareholder with 12.93 per cent, followed by Temasek, then Morgan Stanley.
ABC said the company's banking syndicate has appointed advisory firm McGrathNicol as receiver, AP reported.
ABC chairman David Ryan said the company's board and management are 'disappointed' to be in this position but that quality childcare will continue. The company has almost 1,200 childcare centres in Australia and New Zealand, and more than 1,000 in the US, as well as more than two dozen nurseries in Britain.
ABC's debt on June 30, 2007 was A$2.2 billion, up substantially from A$111 million at the end of fiscal 2004.
The company, which gets a large proportion of its revenue from Australian government childcare subsidies, has delayed filing annual results for its latest financial year.
The government is in talks with creditors about ABC's future and has set up a task force to consider contingency plans to protect families that use the childcare service.
Potential buyers have been put off by the company's opaque management, after going through its books.
The Australian Financial Review newspaper said on Wednesday that instead of developing its own centres, ABC paid a company called 123 Global, run by former ABC executive Don Jones, to buy land, build centres and run them until occupancy rates were up, before selling them at a multiple of earnings.
But ABC could claw back liquidated damages if occupancy rates fell short, booking these as profits. In 2006, Mr Jones was running 123 Careers, which outsourced ABC Learning Centre staff. He paid a fee to ABC for a 10-year contract, which ABC front-loaded with payments over three years.
ABC is also said to have bought a toy distributor for A$5 million, loaded it with contracts to supply ABC Learning Centres, and then sold it for A$46 million.
Trading in ABC's shares has been suspended since Aug 21 as the company worked to resolve its debts. The shares last traded at 54 Australian cents.
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