Eagles hero Chris Judd set for big financial haircut as administrators ponder Elmore’s fate

AFL great Chris Judd is set to have his wings clipped to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars after a Belmont-based mining minnow went belly up.

Mr Judd and his wife Rebecca were among Elmore Limited’s largest shareholders when the one-time iron ore miner collapsed into the hands of administrators from KPMG last week.

KPMG’s Martin Jones, Matthew Woods and Clint Joseph will start to formally mull over Elmore’s fate once the first meeting of creditors is held on Friday.

Shares in Elmore were halted from trading in September at 0.5¢ a piece as the company struggled to keep its modest Peko iron ore and gold operation in the Northern Territory chugging along.

In December Elmore published its final top 20 shareholder list, revealing the Judds owned 1.35 per cent chunk of the miner with just over 18.8 million shares.

This holding would have been valued about $94,400, but the Judds had likely tipped in more over the years.

They first emerged on Elmore’s top 20 list with 10 million shares in April 2021, a month after the company tapped investors for $5 million at 2¢ a pop, giving their stake a value of $200,000 at the time.

The Judds added another 8,875,000 shares sometime between September 29, 2021, and September 29, 2022.

Elmore’s share price closed trade between 1.8¢ and 4.8¢ across those 12 months, and the company’s largest capital raise during the period was a $4.35m placement 3¢ per share. Assuming the Judds upped their stake during that capital raise, they would have handed over another $266,250.

It appears unlikely that any of Elmore’s shareholders will receive a cent if administrators decide to wind up the business.

Shareholders rank behind creditors in receiving the spoils salvaged from a liquidation and Elmore had net liabilities of more than $13.1m by the start of the 2024 financial year, with just $50,000 in the bank at the end of October.

Mr Judd has built a career in the finance industry after his illustrious AFL career came to an end in 2015.

The former Eagles premiership captain hosts an investment podcast and is the founder of a boutique fund manager, Cerutty Macro Fund.

In 2019 Mr and Mrs Judd upsized to a $7.3m Spanish-style mansion in the exclusive bay-side Melbourne suburb of Brighton.

Mr Judd has been contacted for comment.