Creditors of Perth expo company Media & Events Pty Ltd resolved on Tuesday that the company, which owes more than $800,000, be put into liquidation.
Creditors of Perth expo company Media & Events Pty Ltd resolved on Tuesday that the company, which owes more than $800,000, be put into liquidation.
The company’s recently-installed administrator Ian Francis from Taylor Woodings was appointed liquidator during the lengthy second creditors meeting, during which the company’s sole director Greg Millar sought an adjournment before being outvoted by creditors, who then agreed to the liquidation.
Mr Francis was appointed administrator of the company last month, replacing KordaMentha’s Brian McMaster and Jack James after they sought removal from the role by the WA Supreme Court.
Mr Francis told WA Business News that the likelihood of a payout to creditors of Media & Events was “fairly remote”.
He said that employee claims, which had a priority, were a large part of the overall debt. This included claims made by sales consultant John Webb and his wife Denise who were also closely linked to Media & Events’ failed predecessor Consolidated Business Media Pty Ltd.
“There are priority employee claims of $188,000. And of that Mr Webb and his wife have made a claim for $63,000,” he said.
Mr Francis said several matters required investigation, including the transfer of business assets by Mr Millar from Media & Events to Australian Corporate Exhibitions, which he had recently established.
Due to the transfers, which occurred just before Media & Events collapsed, Australian Corporate Exhibitions has control of three events planned before 2006 – MineBox, Perth Woman Expo and Every Home Expo.
“I will be investigating that transaction and determining whether it was a ‘proper transfer’,” he said.
Mr Francis also said he would investigate the transferring of exhibitors’ accounts over to Australian Corporate Exhibitions.
He said he would be scrutinising payments made by Media & Events, in particular, those made to Mrs Webb.
Before Mr McMaster and Mr James were replaced, they released a report on Media & Events, which detailed about $200,000 in benefits Mr and Mrs Webb received before the company collapsed.
The administrators stated the benefits, including a $67,000 gift to Mrs Webb, were among potentially uncommercial transactions. It was also revealed during the second creditors meeting that in 12 months of operations Media & Events had not paid anything to the Australian Taxation Office, which claims $346,727 from the collapsed entity.
