15 Jun 2010

Lawyer confident Wang will avoid bankruptcy

12:57 pm on 15 June 2010

The lawyer for the woman heading a bid by a Chinese company to buy a large number of the Crafar family farms says he's optimistic his client will avoid bankruptcy.

Westpac has applied to the High Court to have May Wang declared bankrupt because she owes about $20 million to creditors from her failed Dynasty Group.

At a hearing on Tuesday, her lawyer, Paul Sills, asked for an adjournment because Dynasty's creditors want to consider an offer to pay them about two cents in the dollar.

While negotiations are going well, Mr Sills says, many creditors want to know about why Ms Wang is now involved with the $1.5 billion deal to buy some of the Crafar family's farms, which are in receivership.

But the Crafar deal is separate from Ms Wang's Dynasty venture, he says, and is a very different set-up.