BLK owes $34m to creditors, including AFL, ARL, ARU organisations and ex-Hi 5 star
Liam Walsh, The Courier-Mail
January 3, 2017 1:00am
Subscriber only
FOOTBALL jersey-maker BLK went broke owing $34 million to creditors, from Westpac to AFL’s Gold Coast Suns to a former star of children’s musical group Hi-5.
The Australian Taxation Office and a company director attached to Gold Coast-based BLK are claiming they are owed millions too, according to minutes of a creditors’ meeting.
Many creditors other than the bank and employees could lose the amounts owed, administrators have warned.
BLK, whose kits were worn by teams including the Brisbane Lions, the Suns, the Gold Coast Titans and the Adelaide Crows, plunged into receivership in November.
The Crows were owed $137,795.35, making them among the most impacted sports clubs, according to the minutes obtained by News. The Australian Rugby League Commission also was out of pocket by $67,766.90.
Garment maker Lionstar Enterprises, based in Hong Kong, is one of the hardest hit trade creditors and is owed $851,739.55.
RUGBY - Wallabies players Berrick Barnes and Benn Robinson unveil the new Wallabies jersey designed and manufactured by Australian sports apparel company KooGa at the Shangri La Hotel, Sydney. Tyron Brant from KooGa talks about the jersey.
World Rugby Specialists and World Rugby Specialists Group, which are in receivership, operated as BLK, which stood for Beyond Limits Known. BLK had distributors from Ireland to the Solomon Islands.
The business is still trading under receivers of Jamie Harris and Anthony Connelly from McGrathNicol. They declined to comment.
The amounts owed were initially unknown but company administrators Martin Ford and Michael Owen of PPB Advisory said the amount was almost $34 million. This includes almost $10 million of director-related entities.
Westpac is the biggest creditor, claiming almost $14 million. According to the PPB report, the receivers have commenced a marketing campaign to sell the business as a going concern.
“Even if the receivers are successful in selling the business as a going concern, the proceeds generated are unlikely to be sufficient to enable a return to ordinary unsecured creditors, after contributing to the claims of employees and secured creditors,” PPB said.
“However, a going concern sale of the business may provide future benefits to employees, suppliers and other stakeholders from ongoing operations.”
More than 170 employee creditors were owed almost $1.1 million. Some of these amounts could transfer to a new owner if the business was sold.
Minutes state that Tyron Brant, chief executive of BLK and director of World Rugby Specialists, took the rare step of fronting creditor meetings. He is among related-party entities making claims with Tyron listed as being owed $422,000, while his father Kim, a director of World Rugby Specialists Group, is out of pocket $5.4 million.
Tyron’s sister Lauren, a former Hi-5 member and now head of professional teams at BLK, is listed as being owed $57,000.
Creditors including football teams, manufacturers, Westpac and the Brants either declined to comment or could not be reached.
AMONG AMOUNTS OWED TO CREDITORS
S
ource: Creditor minutes
Westpac $14 million
ATO $2.57 million
Kim Brant (founder and director of WRS Group) $5.4 million
Tyron Brant (director of WRS, CEO of BLK) $422,000
Royalties to the AFL $265,000
Adelaide Crows $137,795.35
(Giants) Western Sydney Football Club $71,000
Gold Coast Suns $74,000
Brisbane Lions $10,400
Australian Rugby League Commission $67,000
Gold Coast Titans $55,000
Melbourne Rebels $64,000
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