Agribusiness specialists want action on debt

The Australian agribusiness sector has given a highly qualified welcome to an Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) consultation paper aimed at improving disclosure to retail investors by the responsible entities for agribusiness managed investment schemes.

The consultation paper, released on Thursday, was described by ASIC commissioner Greg Medcraft as being aimed at ensuring retail investors were better informed about all agribusiness schemes and their associated risks.

At the core of the consultation paper was a proposal by ASIC for a benchmark-based disclosure model for unlisted schemes against which the responsible entities would have to report.

However, while generally welcoming the discussion paper, the Australian Agribusiness Group (AAG) claimed that the benchmark data being sought by the regulator was already included in the research reports undertaken by AAG since 2000.

“So in our view, ASIC is merely formalising a simple and excellent piece of advice — you do your research before you buy,” the AAG statement said.

It said that a more critical move on the part of ASIC would have been the setting of maximum gearing levels for promoters.

“The failures in the MIS sector have been overwhelmingly driven by debt issues,” AAG chairman Marcus Elgin said.

“Fast growing companies supported by big licks of debt were impacted by market uncertainty,” he said. “Link that up with nervous bankers and you get corporate collapses.”