The Hooters chain in Australia had restaurants in Parramatta, Cronulla and Mermaid Beach.

The company was placed in administration in March and the Cronulla store closed, but the Parramatta and Mermaid Beach restaurants remain open.

The liquidator of Hooters says its holding company and interests associated with the US chain have invested around $4.6 million to set up the Australian operations, including $1 million to set up each restaurant.

The company’s total debts are around $4.8 million.

The Liquidator now plans to sell the remaining restaurants before any return can be made to creditors and investors. Of course, any sae will require the permission of Hooters US in so far as continuing licensing the brand.

The Liquidator says the failure of the company is due to the financial crisis and the location of the restaurants has not helped or been ideal.

The Australian Taxation Office admitted it was responsible for 2 per cent of bankruptcies and 7 per cent of all company wind-ups in the last financial year.

Most of the time the ATO will come to some kind of arrangement with a debtor and will often waive interest and penalties – but rarely will they reduce the primary debt.

The ATO admits it does take a hard line on some firms but these firms would have a long history of not paying their tax or a history of broken promises with the ATO in respect of payment of tax.

The tax office doesn’t want to wind up viable companies, but must take action where there is evidence of a business trading while insolvent,” a spokesman from the ATO said.

The disqualification of Mr Georgiadis follows an ASIC investigation into his role in four failed companies G&G Enterprises (Qld) Pty Ltd, Fossmere Pty Ltd, JAG Management Pty Ltd and JDG Constructions Pty Ltd where liquidators were appointed.

The ASIC investigation revealed that Mr Georgiadis had repeatedly failed to assist the liquidators by not completing meaningful report as to affairs forms and, failing to provide books and records, and answer liquidators’ questions.

This failure to assist the liquidators prevented them from being able to properly investigate the companies’ affairs and recover their assets for the benefit of the companies’ creditors.

Mr Georgiadis has the right to appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review of ASIC’s decision.

A new ‘Insolvency’ tab has replaced the previous ‘For liquidators’ tab on ASIC’s website. All insolvency related information, including the Liquidator information, is now located under the ‘Insolvency’ tab at www.asic.gov.au/insolvency. The content of the Liquidator section remains unchanged and can also be reached via www.asic.gov.au/insolvency-liquidators.

The portal includes new sections dedicated to company directors, creditors, employees, shareholders, investors as well as a resources section. It provides information specific to each stakeholder group about their rights and obligations and responds to frequently asked questions. It also assists stakeholders to understand the technical jargon of insolvency and outlines the most common forms of corporate insolvency administration.

These sections can be reached via the new Insolvency tab on ASIC’s website or short URL’s, as follows: Short URL
Company directors www.asic.gov.au/insolvency-directors
Creditors www.asic.gov.au/insolvency-creditors
Employees www.asic.gov.au/insolvency-employees
Shareholders www.asic.gov.au/insolvency-shareholders
Investors www.asic.gov.au/insolvency-investors
Liquidators www.asic.gov.au/insolvency-liquidators
Resources www.asic.gov.au/insolvency-resources

I encourage you to refer to this information in your liaison with clients and to provide links on your firm’s website.

If have any queries or feedback regarding the website please email insolvencypages@asic.gov.au or use the Feedback buttons available under the new Insolvency tab on ASIC’s website.

Kind Regards

Stefan Dopking
Senior Executive Leader
Insolvency Practitioners & Liquidators