Roamfree in Voluntary Receivership
Date 2009/8/28 11:30:00 | Topic: Industry
| The online travel booking company Roamfree Ltd moved into voluntary administration after it failed to reach a debt-servicing agreement with its noteholders last week, stung by high debt levels and a downturn in consumer spending. Tim Michael and Will Colwell of Ferrier Hodgson have been appointed to take control of the company.
The group's subsidiary trading companies, BookEasy P/L, Roamfree Pacific and majority-owned Tourism Technology, are not affected.
Mark Frawley, Terry O'Dwyer and Lee Warren are among Roamfree’s directors.
The company said despite the appointment of the receivers, its 25 employees' jobs remained safe.
"From my initial review of the company's affairs, it appears that funding provided by noteholders and investors has been exhausted by business investments and acquisitions and the costs of developing its online offering," said receiver Tim Michael. "The current economic climate, resulting in reduced travel and accommodation bookings, has also negatively affected the performance of the group.
"My initial focus will be to maximise the recoverable value of the company's investments in and loans to the group's subsidiary companies."
It is unknown what the company's debt is. A creditors' meeting will be held 3 September.
Roamfree was the brainchild of tourism entrepreneur Tony Smith who sold out after losing more than $50 million following the collapse of MFS (Octaviar). Mark Frawley, the former general manager of Mr Smith's BreakFree company, was appointed the new boss.
Tourism Technology has stated that its operations had not been affected by the voluntary liquidation of Roamfree Ltd. The company said day-to-day operations would continue to run under the direction of founder and CEO Graeme Hunter “as a completely separate entity to the Roamfree business.”
Tourism Technology was established in 1991 by Hunter, who sold a majority share to Roamfree in 2007. Despite this, the company said it remained a privately held Company with no operational or financial links to Roamfree.
|
|