Nathan Tinkler owes Gerry Harvey “millions” the retail boss claimsDisgraced billionaire Nathan Tinkler owes Harvey several million from horse racing, he revealed to Fairfax.
The outstanding debt could be a high as much as $40 million, sources say.
Harvey Norman’s Chairman, Gerry Harvey, “had a caveat over Mr Tinkler’s horseracing and breeding assets and was considering selling the horses that race in the name of the Tinkler company Patinack Farm,” according to the report.
Harvey’s comments pour doubt on Tinkler’s claim he sold the horses from Patinack to Cibola Capital for $130 million this month, which the Port Macquarie-born former mining magnate said allowed him to purchase a Brisbane mine, Wilkie Creek, for $150 million.
Tinkler was forced to sell off Whitehaven Coal mine last year after running up massive debt, where his downward spiral began.
Harvey, has extensive racehorse interests and is considered one of the largest breeders in the world, and owns the ‘Magic Millions’ horse auction event on the Gold Coast. It was previously believed Tinkler’s thoroughbreds would be sold off at the event.
Harvey is worth $1.44 billion and is ranked the 24th the richest people in Australia, by BRW Magazine in 2013.
However, he remains stoic about the outstanding debts, despite the financial and very public mess Tinkler has found himself in.
“I’m a big boy and I knew what I was doing when I got involved and I’m just in the middle of it now,” he said.
“We just have to hope [Tinkler] can get one of these deals over the line and get himself out of it.”
But reckless miners may not be Harvey’s only trouble.
Analysts believe Harvey Norman latest quarterly sales may have taken a tumble, following the recent erosion in consumer confidence, blamed on the austerity-style budget recently announced by Tony Abbott.
Image credit: Courier Mail
