It’s difficult to think of the placing of Grays.com into voluntary administration (VA) as anything but a pre-planned step by the online auction house’s new owners to swallow as painlessly as possible Grays’ scarcely digestible debt load.
Having concluded the purchase of the business and secured debt from private equity outfit Quadrant for a reportedly “nominal” amount last Thursday new owners Slattery Auctions appointed McGrathNicol’s Jason Preston and Damien Pasfield as VAs on Friday.
Their appointor was Grays’ new sole director Pat Slattery, who came on board on September 25, the same day the shares in Grays were transferred to Comserv 2291 Pty Ltd, a Slattery-controlled entity incorporated and registered with ASIC on September 23.
According to a report in The Australian Financial Review’s Street Talk column last week, Grays.com is making “around $600,000 in EBITDA, and has $10 million in debt relating to a fine levied by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in July 2024 after it admitted to making false, misleading or deceptive representations about cars in its listing descriptions”.
iNO’s mail is that Preston and Pasfield are funded and trading the business while seeking a buyer.
If Comserv 2291 or another Slattery-related entity emerges to propound a deed of company arrangement (DoCA) or similar proposal no one should be surprised.
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