THE wool grower-owned Graziers’ Investment Company has rejected a call to try to wind up the company by June 30 this year.

Director of major GIC shareholder AJ & PA McBride, Robert McBride, late last month called for a the GIC board to attempt to wind the company up by June 30, following agreement by the Reserve Bank of India to release $A690,000 in GIC funds.

Mr McBride believed it was prudent to have GIC closed by June 30, avoiding the expense of preparing another separate set of accounts, which he said would be an unneeded expense to shareholders.

He believed the next step was a letter to GIC shareholders to see if the wool growers agreed to close the company by June 30. An estimated $20 million in assets is expected to be distributed to GIC shareholders when the company is wound up.

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However, GIC managing director Elaine Beever said while the Indian cash legacy had been resolved, the final legacy impediments cannot be concluded until the cash has been repatriated, which was expected by June 30, 2017.

“Our position has always been, and continues to be, preserving shareholders wealth, which has been demonstrated with the recent favourable resolution of the French Tax and Indian cash legacies, the latter of which you were prepared to write off,” Ms Beever said.

“We have not, nor intend to, incur ‘unneeded expenses’ to shareholders.

“Sending out a letter ‘to shareholders to see if through agreement, you can close down GIC by June 30th’ to us would be an ‘unneeded expense’, especially when we will be contacting shareholders over the coming months with a recommendation on the future direction of the company, for their determination,” she said.

Ms Beever reiterated that the board was committed to setting a date for a shareholder meeting as soon as possible.

Graziers’ Investment Company Limited was previously known as Australian Wool Services Limited, the successor to the Australian Wool Research and Promotion Organisation, which once had The Woolmark Company Pty Ltd and Australian Wool Innovation Limited as subsidiaries. AWI was de-merged from AWS in 2002 and The Woolmark Company was sold to AWI in 2007.

GIC Ltd is responsible for concluding the legacy issues inherited from its predecessors and managing the wind-down of remaining interests. This has included the divestment of the engineering service company Andar Tool & Press, and dissolution of former International Wool Secretariat branch offices in France and India.

GIC chairman Barry Walker has told Sheep Central the GIC board is expected to meet in May to discuss factors around the wind-up of the company and to set a date for a shareholders meeting this year. Ms Beever said today  the GIC Board remained committed to making a recommendation to shareholders on the future direction of the company and completing this by the end of the year.