The pipeline owner’s bankers have been debating this week whether to put Epic into receivership, in an effort to force through the sales process of the cornerstone Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline.

While no decision was taken during a three hour telephone conference yesterday, a two thirds majority may be reached through the formal voting, with analysts saying it was still likely Epic would be pushed into receivership.

The earlier sale of the balance of Epic’s portfolio – to one of its shareholders – has concerned the bankers and it is thought putting Epic into receivership may avoid a possible repeat, and help achieve a higher sale price than if Epic was running the sales process itself.

Meanwhile, major customer Alinta, has received endorsement from the retail investment sector, with late applications flooding the company’s $468 million rights issue.

While Alinta has retreated from its recent highs of $7.31, it is still way ahead of its $2.25 listing price of October 2000.