Liquidators of failed print business Sydney Allen have gained a court order to force six former company identities, including John Mangos and Bob McMillan, to be examined in the Supreme Court.
Those being given notice to front up at court include former directors Mangos and Chris Wallace, legendary print business owner and investor in the company McMillan, as well as his daughter Julie-Anne McMillan, former finance manager Karen Beuman, and former general manager - and ex-Lilyfield GM - Ian Kingham.
The liquidators have ordered the six into court under sections 596A and 596B of the 2001 Corporations Act, used for a liquidator to get any parties with information pertaining to a failed company’s affairs to be examined under oath in court.
The power to publicly examine like this is sparingly employed. It is a tool to enable the liquidator to drill deeper, and has to be approved by a judge.
Sydney Allen collapsed in May 2016. At the time it was one of the major NSW printers that had not been party to the avalanche of private equity cash that poured into the industry a decade prior. It had been established in the 1950s. One of its major shareholders was Bob McMillan, who had sold his own business to Champ P/E in 2007, and invested in Sydney Allen a year before the company crashed.
The Condell Park based business was selling about $1m of print at month at the time of its demise, with 50 staff on board. It was bought a month later by Mark Shergill's Focus Press Group, which, along with the customer list, wanted Sydney Allen's two B1 presses – a ten-colour perfector and a six-colour – and which fended off interest from Joe Pizzo's Mascot Printing to get the deal done. Around 20 of the staff were brought over. Focus has since kept the Sydney Allen brand in its portfolio.