WA creditors back Pitchers pair to replace PKF duo

The Darwinian contest for appointments, prestige and WIP continues unabated and in the case of ASX-listed Colortv Ltd, PKF Victoria partners Glenn Franklin and Jason Stone may well be rueing the loss of a plum.

The pair were appointed administrators of the MySpace spin-off on August 31 after receiving a call from Melbourne-domiciled referrer Tumblugum Investments Pty Ltd on August 23.

In their DIRRI Franklin describes Tumblugum as a “contact” of one of Colortv’s directors.

A search of Tumblugum indicates that it’s controlled by Melbourne lawyer and hemp and cannabis industry entrepreneur Cary Stynes.

Given Stynes worked on Colortv’s listing on the ASX back in 2017 that may well be how he knows ColorTV’s colourful CEO and chairman Ted Dhanik, with whom the PKF pair communicated in the days leading up to their appointment.

Of course Stynes and Dhanik also have interests in the legal hemp and cannabis sector so it might be through those networks that Dhanik called on Stynes to get the joint .. err ball rolling.

But at that stage Franklin and Stone were perhaps not fully aware of the nature of relations existing between Colortv’s various board members.

The day after Franklin and Stone were appointed Colortv non-executive director David Wheeler rang Pitcher Partners WA chairman Bryan Hughes to discuss what Wheeler believed was the PKF pair’s invalid appointment.

On the Friday before the Monday on which Franklin was due to chair the first meeting the incumbents received a consent and DIRRI from the Pitchers pair.

At 2:34am Sunday morning Franklin received an email from Dhanik, advising that certain key management personnel should be added to the list of creditors. Later the same day Dhanik emailed again, advising that Colortv’s US-based LLC subsidiaries had been paying Colortv’s bills for some time and that those entities would also be claiming as creditors.

We understand Franklin excluded those latter claims on the basis that they were offset by funds the claimants had received from the Australian parent but he admitted the claims from management personnel.

When it came time for creditors to decide whether or not to replace the administrators the vote came in in Pitchers’ favour, with 21 wielding a value of $1.4 million for the resolution and 16 creditors admitted for $1.057 million against.

As expected the PKF boys bowed out gracefully, if not exactly rueing the loss of a plum, then perhaps a bud?