An Australian investment firm that has invested in forestry carbon credit projects in the Asian and Pacific Island regions appointed administrators yesterday as the clean-energy industry continues to come under pressure.
Former Greenpeace chief executive Peter Mullins is listed as a non-executive director of the company, which started out focusing on tech opportunities and more recently turned its eye towards environmental projects.
The collapse of First Growth Funds comes just one day after insulation manufacturing provider and solar hot water technology developer Intelligent Solar collapsed. It also comes as a number of businesses based on providing green technology, especially in the solar industry, are suffering.
The company had been trading on the ASX since the 1980s.
Both the company and administrator Michael Basedow of Pitcher Partners were contacted by SmartCompany but no reply was available prior to publication.
In a statement yesterday First Growth Funds announced that its secured lender Noble Investments Superannuation Fund had appointed administrators. It comes just days after the company announced that it was negotiating with the fund over restructuring $1.2 million in secured debt.
“The board is confident that the carbon business portfolio rights have demonstrated substantial value which with further investment to complete development will establish valuable carbon credits ideally suited to the requirements of voluntary credit buyers and the pre-compliance market, internationally.”
That statement came just days after it announced its executive director Ian Clarkson would resign, having been with the company for 11 years.
While the company had previously invested in general technology ventures, in 2009 it undertook a strategic review to identify opportunities in environmental markets. Just last month it updated the market on 16 different carbon projects in West Papua that were underway.
First Growth identified the future establishment of an emissions trading scheme in Australia as part of its environmental projects strategy.
The business also had investments in the digital video industry.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
