Tempo Director demands
THE liquidator of the collapsed Tempo Holidays anticipates issuing a demand against the company’s Directors within two months, based on a determination that Tempo and Bentours were likely trading insolvent since as early as 26 Jun 2019 (TD 23 Oct 2019).
Laurence Fitzgerald from accounting firm William Buck yesterday released his formal “Statutory Report by Liquidators” which confirms that “at the current time we have insufficient funds to declare a dividend to any class of creditors”.
The report also confirms investigations into voidable transactions, having identified three creditors which may have received $171,000 in preferential payments in Tempo’s final days.
A tangled web of “sundry debtors” to related parties overseas includes $4.9 million owed by Cox & Kings India Ltd, which had an Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) (similar to an Administrator) appointed in Oct.
Despite multiple approaches, the IRP, Alok Kumar Agarwal, has not satisfactorily responded to requests for information, but a formal claim has been lodged by Fitzgerald for the amount owed.
UK-based Prometheon Enterprises Limited, also under administration, owes Tempo about $5 million, but the Administrators have advised “a dividend to unsecured creditors of Prometheon was unlikely”.
Cox & Kings Singapore is the largest of all related party debtors, and owes an estimated $25.1 million to Tempo.
“We have issued two demands to C&K Singapore, however are yet to receive a response,” Fitzgerald said.
“We understand C&K Singapore is currently trading and we are investigating potential legal avenues to pursue this claim further,” he added.
The report notes $832,000 owed by Cox & Kings Japan which is being disputed by the company, as well as about $1 million owed by Dubai-based Avila.
“We have sought comment on the status of the above debtors from the Company’s Director but have yet to receive a response,” Fitzgerald noted.
He said there was significant doubt as to the timing and amount of potential recovery from the related party loans.
Two parties had expressed interest in purchasing the assets of the company, but declined to proceed after conducting due diligence; one of these had made a $10,000 non-refundable deposit to undertake the process.
Total claims in the liquidation amount to a whopping $343 million, with the largest creditor being India’s Yes Bank which is owed $284 million in a claim cross-collateralised against multiple firms in the C&K Group.