WA printer Picton Press was $9 million in debt when it called in external administrators last month after the ATO began court action to recover an outstanding tax bill of $1.3 million.
Administrator Jeremy Nipps from insolvency firm Cor Cordis compiled a complete list of secured and unsecured creditors for the first creditors' meeting held in Perth last Friday. The total debt figure includes more than $2 million in unsecured creditors and about $7 million in secured creditor debt. About $700,000 is owed to trade creditors.
Picton Press remains open for business as Cor Cordis begins the process of looking for a potential buyer. The existing owners are also said to be “very keen” to hold onto the business.
“We’re seeking Expressions of Interest (EOI) from parties who are interested in buying or restructuring the existing business,” says Nipps. “We’re advertising in the West Australian and national newspapers and we’ve had more than a dozen parties who've expressed interest so far, some of them are local, some national and some from abroad.
An ad in today's Australian Financial Review says: the administrators are seeking urgent expressions of interest for the recapitalisation and/or outright purchase of the company's business and/or assets, either individually or collectively. Assets for sale include customer contracts, IP, plant, equipment and motor vehicles.
“We’re running through the process now hoping to extract an outcome that will provide a better return to creditors, whether it’s through a sale or a restructuring," says Nipps.
The EOI period ends on Friday 8 June and interested parties then have a couple of weeks to make ‘indicative offers,” which will be assessed by the administrators.
Picton Press has grown from a three-man operation in 1988 to become one of Perth’s largest print companies, employing about 30 people, including directors Dennis Hague and Gary Kennedy. General manager Graham Jamieson is also a director on the board at the Printing Industries Association of Australia.