THOSE involved with the labyrinth of companies working out of the Bill Express headquarters in Eaglemont knew the end was coming months ago.
Back in May, Full Disclosure reported that Bill Express had the death rattle. Last month, BusinessDay reported that the company was suffocating under at least $180 million of debt.
Reports of trouble in the business and the estimated debt figure were disputed by chief executive Ian Christiansen, as was the claim in Full Disclosure that ANZ was owed in excess of $50 million.
Today, Bill Express creditors will learn that the mountain of debt Bill Express amassed will top $210 million. ANZ is owed $53 million. The biggest telcos in the country another $110million. On the other side of the ledger, the cupboard is pretty much bare.
Christiansen hung up when contacted for comment last night. In the meantime, investors in Bill Express and thousands of small businesses that used its services seem to have been hung out to dry.
More than 150 staff at Eaglemont have lost their jobs. For a company that reported a profit in its first four years of operation, Bill Express has left quite a black hole. Administrator Craig Crosbie of PPB expects the debt mountain to top $250 million - and that's before thousands of newsagents stake a claim for money owed.
About 80 creditors will be represented at a meeting at the Marriott Hotel in Lonsdale Street today. That number could easily double, Crosbie says, if newsagents decide to turn up.
PPB is now interested in payments to related parties that form the $92million Bill Express is owed, as well as deals with offshore entities that use the intellectual property, software and systems of Bill Express and On Q.
Much of that $92 million is owed by companies that operated from the same offices as Bill Express, in what Crosbie himself calls a "very interwoven" network of private holdings.
Last year's reported $6million profit at Bill Express was the result of a $6 million licence fee paid by Australian Private Networks, now listed as a $10.2million debtor of Bill Express.
The board of Bill Express was asked at last year's annual meeting by two shareholders - Craig Levin and Paul Jindra - if that money had actually been paid.
Board members, including Julian Little, angrily declared that it had been banked.
Now, according to Crosbie and his team, that might not have been the case.
Meanwhile, former On Q chairman and chief executive Peter McDougall is battling some of his former board colleagues in court over a disputed debt.
McDougall, like the creditors and accountants now caught in the Bill Express mess, has just one question - if Bill Express made a profit in each year that it operated, where did all the money go?
Money pot
THE word "administrator" is one that strikes fear in many a company boardroom. Looking at the document PPB has sent to creditors of Bill Express, it's with good reason.
On April 28, PPB was hired by the board of Bill Express to advise on a restructure of the company, it's cash-flow situation and prepare documents for potential buyers and investors in the group. Continued…
