Pumpkin Patch liquidator showdown likely
A watershed meeting of creditors next week for Pumpkin Patch is likely to see duelling liquidators as insolvency firms jostle for the rights to wrest what they can from the collapsed children’s retailer.
The move into liquidation is considered a near-inevitability after a union lobbying for hundreds of the company’s workers owed millions said it would urge members to vote in favour of the move.
Pumpkin Patch entered voluntary administration in October, and a meeting scheduled for March 7 has administrators McGrathNicol urging creditors to vote for liquidation in order to explore options for recovering a total of $70 million owed to ANZ and others.
McGrathNicol last week secured an order in the High Court clearing them of conflicts of interests and allowing them to put their own hat in the ring, but it appears likely this move will be challenged by rival insolvency administrators McDonald Vague. The Herald understands the mulled rival bid follows meetings with Pumpkin Patch headquarters employees, who are owed a total of $5m but due to corporate structuring found their legal employer — Pumpkin Patch Limited — owned practically no assets.
McDonald Vague director Iain McLennan was unwilling to commit to such a move when contacted by the Herald yesterday.
He said initial indications — based on reading reports published by the Herald — offered some hope for creditors.
Robert Reid, the general secretary of FIRST Union, said he was undecided on which liquidation bid to support.