WesternOne places Australian operations into voluntary administration

WesternOne Inc. is winding-down its operations in Australia. In order to ensure an efficient wind-down process, the Australian operations have been placed into voluntary administration.

WesternOne is taking this action in order to focus both its management and its capital resources on significant opportunities in North America, including ongoing capital investments in Northern Alberta’s oil and gas sector, new major investments in the shale oil and gas sector in the United States, and the liquefied natural gas (LNG) and related infrastructure projects proposed for British Columbia.

“The decision to wind-down these operations follows a thorough review of the current challenging business environment in Australia and the impact it was having on the financial results of our Australian operations,” said Robert King, Chief Executive Officer.

“The downturn in Australia’s resource market started in 2012 when economic growth in China decelerated. We acquired the Australian business in early 2013 with the expectation that the downturn had largely bottomed out. Unfortunately, the weakness in this market has persisted and despite continual downsizing of that business we do not see the prospects for a turnaround in the performance of our Australia operations in the near-term. The Australian operations do not constitute a substantial portion of WesternOne’s overall business,” added King.

Press Release, July 30, 2014; Image: Britco