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Mannway goes to the auction block

MANNWAY COLLAPSE: Asset sale begins in earnest, with receivers sending trucks and trailers to market

By Brad Gardner | January 27, 2010

The sale of Mannway’s assets has begun in earnest, with receivers sending trucks and trailers to the marketplace.

The Grays Online auction began online on January 21 and will end on February 3.

The asset sale includes prime movers and rigid trucks, some as new as 2004 and others stretching back to 1983.

Different trailer variations will also go under the hammer as Mannway receivers Ferrier Hodgson hope to recoup money from the failed carrier which went into administration late last year.

The company’s assets include some 600 vehicles, 10 warehouses and 100,000 square metres of customer storage.

Brendan Richards from Ferrier Hodgson has previously said the market will not be flooded with assets to ensure there is a maximum return.

“It will be a staged process over time,” Richards says.

“We’re not about having a massive fire-sale of assets.”

Mannway went into administration in October last year due to plummeting profit margins and unsustainable debt levels.

A recent investigation into the running of the company revealed it was trading insolvent as far back as June 2008, while employees are owed more than $5.6 million.

Creditors last week voted to liquidate Mannway, allowing insolvency specialist Geoff Handberg to conduct an in-depth investigation into the running of the company.

Mannway was founded in 1979 by Bill Mann and was operated by former Linfox executive Stuart Brown.

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