Mr Poynton, a former stockbroker and now head of Azure Capital, a boutique corporate adviser, is backing Mr Jack's Black Tree group. Mr Jack is a former director of Integrated Tree Cropping, now ITC, which was taken over by Futuris Corporation, now Elders.

The new group is a competitor to the frontrunner, Pulpwood Plantations, headed by West Australian business leader Gordon Martin, who is chairman of Coogee Chemicals. Pulp-wood's chief executive is Phillip Butlin, a former deputy chief executive of Great Southern.

Great Southern receivers McGrath Nicol are taking expressions of interest from various parties until next Wednesday. Great Southern has 10 different forestry schemes that each operate over a 10-year period, and involve about 240,000 hectares of plantations.

Mr Jack told BusinessDay that the partners had been working on a proposal to restructure Great Southern for some time. The proposal would be a solution to satisfy all stakeholders, he said.

Mr Poynton said the group had been working with the receivers and growers' representatives, and had proposed a ''whole-of-problem solution'' that recognised the interests of growers and creditors such as the banks.

''The idea is to make sure the schemes carry on,'' he said. ''Some have not long to mature and have an easy path to cash flow. Other schemes have a longer path to cash flow. We are not saying much about the details of the proposal at this stage.''

Pulpwood Plantations (PPPL) has secured the backing of Och-Ziff Capital Management Group, a US-listed asset management company with assets worth $US22 billion ($25 billion).

PPPL will initially invest $10 million, and up to $20 million if required, to provide working capital for Great Southern's first six schemes.

Mr Martin said if the first six schemes were successful ''we will apply to take over the remaining more complex four schemes, but due diligence has not yet been done … if you want a long-term sustainable timber industry, you've got to have at least a 10-year rotation.''