The receivership company administering failed investment house Rewards Group plans to sell around 14,000 hectares of mango and grapefruit plantations in Western Australia, reported the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

Receiver McGrathNicol is administrating the sale, led by James Thackray who told the ABC he hopes to have the assets sold by Jun. 30, explaining the fate of the farms' employees will be in the hands of the new owners.

"There's a plantation or a property manager on each of the farms and their employment is ongoing during the receivership and it'll depend on the purchaser on whether those people are replaced," he was quoted as saying.

The story said the plantations in the Ord Valley include Australia's largest red grapefruit plantation with 80,000 trees, along with Western Australia's largest mango plantation with 120,000 trees.

Ord mango growers association's president Chris Robinson told the ABC it was possible the property buyer could strip the land for other interests.

Source: www.freshfruitportal.com