Partners of KordaMentha have also been appointed as voluntary administrators of Timbercorp's long list of subsidiaries which handle MIS farms growing almonds, avocados, citrus, grapes, timber, olives and mangoes.

In a statement to the press this morning, KordaMentha outlined Timbercorp's position as one of Australia's largest agribusiness companies, managing approximately 120,000 hectares of large-scale forestry and horticulture assets.

It says Timbercorp has invested more than $2 billion in agribusiness projects on behalf of 18,500 investors since 1992.

Mark Korda, of Korda Mentha, said the company had been hurt by the combined impact of declining global asset values, tightening credit, the economic downturn and drought.

Mr Korda said the administrators would implement a three point plan as follows:

• Immediate suspension of forestry and horticulture operations whilst funding options are determined;
• Develop a strategy for each forestry and horticulture product, project by project, then execute; and
• Attend to statutory reporting, investigation, creditor and shareholder liaison.

In the full year accounts, issued in November 2008, Timbercorp reported current debt of $568 million, net debt of $903.1 million and net assets of $595 million.

Timbercorp has approximately 170 staff based at offices in Melbourne, Perth, Hamilton, Mildura and Penola.

The company offered managed investment schemes based on its agribusiness estate.

According to KordaMentha, the process of voluntary administration is designed to explore quickly the options for the company.

The voluntary administrators will be writing to all creditors to provide notice of the date of the first meeting of creditors.

The first creditors' meeting will be held within eight business days after the appointment of the voluntary administrator.

Timbercorp had previously announced that the company’s business model was no longer appropriate in the current environment due to the capital intensity of the projects and was in the process of transforming the business into an integrated agribusiness company.

However, these plans, which included asset sales, could not be executed in the timeframe to meet the company’s debt obligations.