Quintis Ltd (ASX: QIN), which once claimed the title of the "world's largest owner and manager of commercial Indian sandalwood plantations", has gone bust.
Last week Quintis Ltd announced that Asia Pacific Investments DAC exercised a put option requiring Quintis to buy 400 hectares of plantations for around $37 million.
But Quintis stated it didn't have the funds and has gone into administration.
"The company does not have the financial resources available to it to pay the put option price and the directors have therefore resolved to appoint Richard Tucker, Scott Langdon and John Bumbak of KordaMentha as voluntary administrators of Quintis and its Australian subsidiaries," Quintis stated.
"The company understands that the receivers will further evaluate restructuring and sale alternatives, including a potential recapitalisation of the business with noteholder support."
In March last year a paper published by California-based short seller Glaucus Research Group scrutinised Quintis and the company's share price started to dive.
After a disastrous financial year (FY) 2017, which saw Quintis shares suspended on the ASX since May, some thought the sandalwood company would follow Slater & Gordon Limited (ASX: SGH) and Quintis' plans to recapitalise would eventuate.
But such plans didn't materialise, adding to Quintis chairman Dalton Gooding's failed attempts to prevent the company collapsing.
"We are very disappointed with this outcome given the huge efforts made over the last nine months to recapitalise the Company in order to deliver its sustainable future," Dalton Gooding said.
In FY 2017, Quintis reported a net loss after tax of $416.8 million, down from the $90.1 million after tax profit the company posted in FY 2016.
Quintis blamed a number of factors on the heavy loss, including a $307.4 million reduction in the value of Quintis' assets and a year-on-year fall in revenue close to $95 million.
Quintis' major creditor is American investment management company BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK), according to Fairfax Media Limited (ASX: FXJ).
