STA Australia owes $67m

THE collapsed STA Australia (TD 20 Aug) has more than 37,000 creditors who are collectively owed $66.8 million according to a report from the company’s Administrators released on Fri.

The formal Report to Creditors details the complex structure of the STA group, with Swissbased parent company STA Travel Holding AG itself a division of Diethem Keller Holding AG.

The report only covers Australian entities which include STA Travel Pty Ltd, IEP Pty Ltd and a separate company called STA Travel Academic Pty Ltd which is 40% owned by Helloworld Travel.

STA Travel Academic became part of HLO last year when the company purchased Traveledge, which operated a university corporate travel program in a joint venture with STA.

Despite average annual TTV of about $45 million, STA Travel had made minimal local profits each year since 2016, the report reveals, with the Administrators citing the company’s “high fixed operating cost structure”.

The whopping $14 million fine levied by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission over STA’s false MultiFLEX product claims (TD 24 Apr) had still not been paid at the time the company was placed into administration, with an initial $9 million payment due to be paid before 01 Nov this year.

The company has a $2.3 million claim against Contiki in relation to funds advanced on behalf of laybuy customers, with Contiki also having a number of contra-claims against STA Travel.

Other debtors include G Adventures ($239,000) and IATA ($9.3m), with the second meeting of STA creditors scheduled for this Fri 25 Sep at 12pm AEST.