POTENTIAL buyers of the pulp mill assets of failed timber company Gunns have been given more time to submit expressions of interest to receiver KordaMentha.
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It was understood the original closing date was December 31 but some interested parties needed more time.
KordaMentha spokesman Mike Smith said the date was never completely locked in.
``We are not expecting fresh potential buyers, the existing ones asked for a bit more time to do more work,'' Mr Smith said.
``We had no objection to that.''
Still at the ``poker game'' stage, all expressions of interest will be analysed by the receiver before the end of the month, and it is likely the process will go to a second full due diligence stage with some buyers narrowed down.
If one potential buyer is outstanding, negotiations could start immediately, and the process would be short.
``If somebody is prepared to put a lot of cash on the table and under conditions that are all acceptable for the receivers they may be a million miles in front of the rest of the pack,'' he said.
``If a number are in the ball park we may go to a second round. It really depends what we end up with in this first phase,'' Mr Smith said.
The original proposal by Gunns was estimated to be worth $2.5?thbillion.
The receiver will analyse the expressions of interest in the next few weeks and will then brief both the government and opposition.
Mr Smith said it was a complicated set of assets and that some interested buyers may want all or only some.