Administrators for Wynyard got just $2.8m in asset sales

AUCKLAND: The voluntary administrators for Wynyard Group raised just $2.8 million from selling the failed crime investigation software developer’s assets before its liquidation last month.

A report by voluntary administrators Neale Jackson and Grant Graham, of KordaMentha, shows the New Zealand trading entity Wynyard (NZ) had almost $2 million of cash on hand at the time of their appointment on October 25, a further $2.8 million was raised from selling assets, and pre-administration tax refunds and debtor receipts totalled another $310,000.

Before liquidators were appointed last month, Jackson and Graham sold Wynyard’s Cognevo business to Australia’s Telstra and Canada’s Resolver bought the local software firm’s risk management suite of products.

Of the $5.1 million of receipts in the period, the receivers were paid $659,000, salaries and wages reached $498,000 and legal fees of almost $425,000 were paid. These three were the largest of expenses that totalled $2.7 million. That left $2.3 million once Wynyard’s creditors appointed liquidators on February 8.

Wynyard (NZ) had 108 priority creditors owed $2.1 million as at February 8, and another 224 unsecured creditors owed $177.9 million, who ultimately voted to liquidate the group of companies. Wynyard Group, the parent company, owed ASB Bank $75,000 and had $209,000 cash on hand at the time of Mr Jackson and Mr Graham’s appointment in October.

The KordaMentha pair were later appointed liquidators, and in their first report in that role, they valued Wynyard (NZ)’s total assets at $24.9 million, of which $15.9 million was attributed to software assets and $6 million to related party receivables. Of the $179.9 million in total liabilities, some $171 million was owed to Wynyard Group, and $6.7 million to other unsecured creditors.

Mr Jackson said they were pursuing sale opportunities for the ACA (advanced crimes analytics) product, which was the last product stream still to be realised, and were also investigating whether there were voidable transactions and/or breaches of duty that could be pursued.

Wynyard was listed on the NZX, raising $65 million in an initial public offering at $1.15 a share, though it kept just $26 million to fund its plans for expansion. The remainder paid Jade for the intellectual property and covered outstanding debt. The shares last traded at 21.5c, valuing Wynyard at $38.5 million.