Liquidators of Otago company Burns Group 2018 Ltd are still awaiting information from the company’s sole director Malcolm Burns so they can determine any available assets belonging to the company.
In March, an order was made in the High Court at Dunedin to place the company into liquidation. It operated as a holding company with passive investment of three subsidiary companies: Forest Distribution and Logistics Ltd, Otago Excavation Ltd — which is in liquidation and in receivership — and Titan Bulk Haulage Ltd. The liquidators’ first report, released in April, said the records of the company had been destroyed without their approval.
In their recently-released second report, liquidators Elizabeth Keene and Luke Norman, of KPMG, said they had spoken with Mr Burns to gain an understanding of the business, the reasons for its failure and its interest, as sole shareholder, in the three companies.
The secured creditor repossessed the company’s servers which held the company’s electronic information, including the financial records, and advised they had wiped the server and did not retain a copy of the information.
Mr Burns advised he wanted to purchase the company’s shareholding in the three companies and the liquidators were awaiting a proposal and information in relation to the assets held by the company and subsidiaries. Revised total liabilities were estimated at more than $2 million.
