Tinkler claims ex-lieutenant took confidential information to rival

A company linked to Nathan Tinkler is suing the former billionaire’s ex-lieutenant, alleging the executive used confidential information to help an Indonesian billionaire buy the lucrative Mount Pleasant coal mine in NSW.

Tinkler Group Holdings claims former employee Scott Winter was intimately involved in $20 million worth of due diligence the group conducted on Mount Pleasant, and later used that knowledge to help Antoni Salim buy the mine from Rio Tinto in 2016.

The Federal Court claim alleges that eight months after he stopped working for Mr Tinkler, Mr Winter approached Mr Salim, the sixth richest man in Indonesia, or somebody within the Salim Group, to propose the acquisition of the Mount Pleasant mine.

Mr Winter was the managing director of Mach Energy from September 2015 to May 2018, a private company ultimately controlled Mr Salim, and the company that bought the Mount Pleasant mine in 2016.

Mach Energy, also a respondent in Tinkler Group’s lawsuit, earned more than $50 million in profits during calendar 2020 before the latest surge in the price of coal.

Mr Tinkler and Mr Winter declined to comment. A Mach Energy spokeswoman said: “Mach will vigorously defend any claim by Mr Tinkler.”

Defences are due to be filed on another date.

Mr Tinkler is a director of Tinkler Group. His wife, Jodie Tinkler, is also a director and 100 per cent shareholder.

Confidential information

Mr Tinkler, a former Financial Review Rich Lister, went from billionaire to bankrupt after the collapse of his company in 2016 with debts of $540 million. He was banned from managing companies until early 2021, but his bankruptcy was annulled in 2018.

Mr Winter resigned from the Tinkler Group in November 2014, having been the company’s general manager of mining since June 2011, according to the claim.

Tinkler Group claims Mr Winter breached his fiduciary duties to Tinkler Group, benefiting from the confidential information he obtained while he developed bids for Mount Pleasant on behalf of Mr Tinkler’s companies.

Tinkler Group claims it approached Rio Tinto in 2012 for information to allow it to make a bid for Rio’s stakes in Mount Pleasant and the neighbouring Bengalla mine. Confidentiality agreements were entered into between various associated entities.

Due diligence for Tinkler Group and another Tinkler company, Bentley, was run by Mr Winter, the claim alleges, between 2012 and October 2013. It included numerous meetings with Rio Tinto executives in Brisbane, Sydney and London.

Tinkler Group claims it spent more than $20 million commissioning reports on the projects, before making an offer in late 2013 or early 2014. Rio Tinto indicated it would not be selling the assets, the action states.

However, Tinkler Group said it was contacted by Rio Tinto in 2015 and told the mining giant’s coal assets would be for sale. Tinkler Group and Bentley went into a confidential data room in July 2015.

Tinkler Group claims Mr Tinkler met Mr Winter at the Kenmore Tavern in July 2015 and told him his group and Bentley were still bidding for the Mount Pleasant project.

Tinkler Group claims Mr Tinkler said he had met with Rio Tinto, was progressing a bid for Mount Pleasant, and would likely have a job again for Mr Winter soon.

In September 2015, Bentley offered $US500 million ($710.9 million) for Mount Pleasant, and another Rio Tinto asset, the Oaklands Project.

Alleged approach

Tinkler Group alleges Mr Winter approached Mr Salim, or the Salim Group, in mid-2015, proposing an arrangement for the Indonesian-headed company to bid for the Mount Pleasant project.

It alleges Mr Winter conveyed some of the confidential information he had access to from his former role at Tinkler Group.

Mr Winter met with Rio Tinto, Tinkler Group alleges, in August 2015 to discuss a Salim Group entity bidding for Mount Pleasant.

Tinkler Group’s claim refers to an article in The Australian Financial Review’s Street Talk column on August 27, 2015, which said, “Nathan Tinkler’s former right-hand man Scott Winter is spearheading a potential bid for parts of Rio Tinto’s Australian coal portfolio”.

It is alleged Mr Tinkler called Mr Winter after this article and asked what work he had been doing, to which he is claimed to have replied he was looking for a job in London, and did not disclose any dealings with Salim Group or associated executives and entities.

Holding company

According to filings with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, Mach Energy Australia was set up on September 29, 2015, and Mr Winter was one of five directors. Droxford International, incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, was listed as the ultimate holding company.

According to an interview with the Muswellbrook Chronicle in February 2016, Mr Winter disclosed Mach was an acronym of the names of his four children.

Tinkler Group alleges Mr Winter disclosed information to Mach Energy which he obtained from his employment at Tinkler Group for a bid that was accepted in late January 2016.

It alleges Mach Energy had knowledge of Mr Winter’s alleged breach of duties.

Tinkler Group is seeking a court declaration that Mach Energy holds Mount Pleasant and any profits obtained now or in the future on trust for Tinkler Group.

Fallout with former partners

The claim is the latest example of Mr Tinkler and his former business partner Kin Chan being on opposite sides of a dispute, given Mr Chan is a director of Mach Energy.

Mr Chan was an enabler of Mr Tinkler’s business activities a decade ago, but their relationship soured badly and companies linked to Mr Chan spent 2020 buying up the vast majority of debts owed by companies linked to Mr Tinkler.

In May 2021 companies linked to Mr Chan appointed FTI Consulting to take possession of a luxury Coffs Harbour property that was owned by entities linked to Mr Tinkler.

Mr Winter brought legal action against Mach Energy – under Fair Work in the Federal Court – in 2019. It was resolved in mediation.

Mach Energy sold its first coal from Mount Pleasant to domestic coal-fired power stations in 2019 and began exporting high-quality, high-energy thermal coals to Japan and South Korea in 2020.

Mr Tinkler’s claim comes at a time of extremely high prices for the type of thermal coal that Mach Energy sells to Japan; coal with energy content above 6000 kilocalories per kilogram.

Top-quality NSW thermal coal prices had never risen above $US200 per tonne until October last year and the record of $US262 per tonne was set in November 2021.

The price was still high at $US217.71 per tonne on January 14, according to GlobalCoal.

Mach Energy posted a $56.4 million profit in the 2020 calendar year when coal prices were weak. Though its 2021 accounts have not yet been filed to ASIC, they are expected to show further improvement due to high commodity prices.