Stochastic to be sold by receivers

Oil and gas software developer Stochastic Simulation is expected to be put up for sale, two weeks after it was put into receivership.

Stochastic, which provides a series of products that simulate reservoirs, drilling and gas flows, is continuing to trade, but under the control of receivers Renee O'Driscoll, Bryan Hughes and Daniel Bredenkamp of Pitcher Partners.

They were appointed on Monday April 3 by parties associated with private lender Daniel Colgan.

Those parties included the Settle Selle Trust, of which Mr Colgan is a trustee, and Kinsale Trust, which has other Colgan family members serving as trustees.

The entities were secured creditors of Stochastic, while the company also had a number of notes issued and unsecured loans.

Mr Colgan was appointed to the board of Stochastic in October 2015, but is no longer listed as a director on the company’s website.

Creditors met today and approved the appointment of Jason Tracy and Richard Hughes of Deloitte as administrators.

Business News understands that a number of stakeholders are hoping for the company to be restructured, although that would first require the secured creditor position to be resolved.

It is not yet known exactly how much the business owes creditors, but Stochastic’s website claims it has more than 50 shareholders and a market value of around $11 million.

Osborne Park-based Stochastic was founded in 2008 by Andrew Wadsley and Leo Mullins, who currently serve as executive director and managing director respectively.

In March 2015, Stochastic spent around $5 million to buy modelling technology from Queensland business Predrill Stresses International.

As part of that deal, Predrill managing director John Davidson became a shareholder in Stochastic.