LAUNCESTON timber company Forest Enterprises Australia has gone into voluntary administration after failing to refinance a $216 million debt.
FEA had also been negotiating to sell off assets or merge the company with another, unnamed, industry player.
But its banks, the ANZ and CBA, had refused a request to further extend repayments while FEA sought a solution to its financial woes - which it has blamed on a downturn in the sector associated with the Global Financial Crisis.
The jobs of 200 FEA workers and an unknown quantity of indirect beneficiaries remain in limbo while the administrator, BRI Ferrier, work through the administration process.
Forestry union representatives will meet with workers and FEA management at the company's Bell Bay sawmill this afternoon to hear from the administrators.
An approach for financial assistance from FEA to the State Government earlier this year was knocked back but Premier David Bartlett has today said the government would work closely with the voluntary administrator to help employees affected by the decision.
The government never gave a reason for deciding against assisting the business before the March 20 election.
But Mr Bartlett today said the Tasmanian Development Board recommended against supporting an assistance package because there was a substantial risk to taxpayer funds and uncertainties around the managed investment scheme industry.
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