Reply To: Sad news about 4Ground going into Liquidation

[warcasteParticipant 98xp 4]

I’m afraid I don’t think that things are as straightforward as Cad and Ben are suggesting and I am wondering as to the quality of the advice that they have been given. As a banker I specialised in insolvency for many years dealing with this size of company and this is very far from a simple book keeping exercise.

The company is subject to a Creditor’s Voluntary Liquidation which is a form of corporate bankruptcy not a straightforward reorganisation. This means that at the date of the resolution the company ceased trading and the situation should have effectively been frozen. There are many implications to this not least to the backers of the Kickstarter but also in relation to the ability to take control of the company assets and start again.

With effect from the liquidation the liquidator is in control of the company and is obliged to act in the best interests of the creditors from a financial point of view. He will make best endeavours to realise the assets of the company for the best price and then share the money out according to the order of priority of the creditors. The KS backers will be general unsecured creditors and is near the bottom of the list, here is a quick overview.

Unfortunately I suspect that the KS backers are likely to receive a minimal amount back from the liquidation but I think that they should lodge a claim with the liquidator whose details are on the Gazette notice here

Whilst I think it is to their credit that Ben and Cad wish to honour the Kickstarter I think that there is no legal obligation to do so since that would mean that they have been effectively been preferred as creditors. In any event there is no reason not to lodge a claim in the liquidation since this would have nothing really to do with Ben and Cad anyhow.

I am also concerned at Ben’s statement that Tymeagain has bought the company assets since the Liquidator must obtain best price for these on the open market. I find it difficult to believe that this has been done correctly in the short time since the posting of the notice.

I would strongly suggest that anyone who seeks clarification on this contacts the liquidator.

As a final note I would point out that I now operate an MDF terrain and miniatures company and it is pure coincidence that I happen to know about this kind of thing.