Clive Palmer company ordered to repay $44.6m private jet loan to Vannin Capital

Clive Palmer’s Queensland Nickel company has been ordered to repay a $35.4 million loan for the businessman and former MP’s private jet plus hefty interest and currency exchange costs.

The Court of Appeal on Friday dismissed an application by Queensland Nickel (QNI) to set aside the order that it pay more than $US30.8 million ($A44.6 million) to Vannin Capital.

The Brisbane Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that General Electric’s industrial credit division had loaned $US24.5 million to QNI subsidiary Palmer Aviation to finance the purchase of a 2001 Bombardier Global Express aircraft.

The twin-engine aircraft, with room for up to 14 passengers and a maximum range of 12,000km, was painted with Palmer United Party logos and used to support Mr Palmer’s successful 2013 federal election run for the Sunshine Coast seat of Fairfax.

Soon after QNI and Palmer Aviation went into voluntary administration in January 2016, GE sent letters demanding that the loan’s full outstanding principal and interest be repaid within a month but Mr Palmer’s companies did not send any money.

The jet was sold for $US5.6 million in 2018 after QNI went into liquidation.

Vannin Capital, a multinational corporate litigation financing company, took over GE’s rights to the loan in 2018 and QNI took legal action to contest the debt in 2019.

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QNI claimed GE had breached a duty owed to them to achieve the “best price obtainable” on the jet’s resale.

Supreme Court Justice Martin Burns ruled earlier this month that “Vannin must wholly succeed on its claim” to the debt and dismissed QNI’s counterclaim.

QNI brought a motion to stay the proceedings, arguing that it was being exposed to the risk of Vannin becoming insolvent and being unable to repay the $US30 million-plus if it lost a future appeal.

QNI sought to have the court hold onto the equivalent in Australian dollars while a wider appeal proceeded.

Vannin argued that its Australian division had access to credit worth $100 million and forcing it to accept a payout in Australian dollars would result in it incurring costs and potential currency rate losses to recover its court judgment that was explicitly to be paid in US dollars.

Justice John Bond ruled on Friday that there was “no demonstrated reason” to grant QNI’s appeal against the payment terms.

Mr Palmer announced late last year that he was selling Queensland Nickel to Swiss group Zero Carbon Investek for an undisclosed amount that has been estimated at $1 billion or more.