Printing shop insolvency

This company was an insolvency which we dealt with a few years ago and it had many different aspects to it.

The case involved us attending a printing shop and carrying out a survey of all the chattel assets on site (which included printing machinery and equipment as well as office furniture /equipment) then producing a market valuation report and categorising the assets as either unencumbered, financed or third party owned. We were then asked to dispose of the company’s chattel assets and arrange the clearance of its two buildings, which we managed by way of an online sale by closed tender using our auction software package. We also had to make contact with finance companies to try and arrange the disposal of their assets.

We sold assets on behalf of the Liquidator and also the former Director. This was because some of the most valuable assets belonged to either the company’s Pension Fund or the Director’s sister company. We had already been made aware by the Director that he would be looking to sell these machines (including two Heidelberg presses) and once we were given the instruction to dispose of the unencumbered assets by the Liquidator, we suggested to the Liquidator that we should ask if we could sell the Pension fund / sister company machines as well in order to make the overall sale more attractive. The decision to have an online tender rather than auction was taken as we thought that the lack of widely desirable / major assets may mean that ‘special purchasers’ would bid much more than the under bidder for certain lots. This decision was justified by the excellent sales results. For many of the lots there was no ‘underbid’, or only a much lower ‘underbid’, and therefore an auction would likely have been less successful.

The strategy of including all the assets and having a tender was very successful and we ended up achieving several prices above our valuation due to the increased interest and resultant (perceived) competition. Another good decision was to include a Morgana folding machine in the sale which had a sum outstanding on finance which was higher than we valued the machine for but we actually ended up selling it for a price above valuation which enabled us to settle the finance outstanding left some equity for the Liquidation.

We received a letter of congratulations and thanks from the former Director as result of our effort and the Liquidator was also very pleased and paid our time costs in full. We have since received further instructions from this client, despite the fact that they are based in Sheffield. Marriott & Co. had been recommended to them by a northern contemporary of ours due to our specialization in the printing industry.