Company Liquidation Melbourne

Liquidation is a suitable option to wind down the operations of a company in an orderly way. It ensures assets are appropriately and legally distributed, minimising the impact of insolvent trading.

It also gives shareholders, creditors, and directors the opportunity to have an independent expert investigate and manage the liquidation. Creditors understand that liquidation is a fair and legal option for an insolvent company to deal with its financial affairs.

Liquidation is a complicated legal and financial process, and it can take anywhere from 3 months to a year depending on the type of liquidation, the size of the company, the number of stakeholders, and more. A registered liquidator needs to be agreed on, the terms with creditors need to be negotiated, and the assets of the company need to be auctioned off.

If this sounds complicated and you’re not sure where to start with a business liquidation, you can always give us a call here at Mackay Goodwin. Our team will help you close the doors and wind up company’s affairs.

A wind-up notice is initiated by your creditors or the Tax Office to check the solvency of your company and take subsequent measures. It is a very serious document that requires business owners to act immediately.

Get in touch with us today for a free confidential consultation, and our team here at Mackay Goodwin will help you overcome your financial challenges.

A company’s assets are distributed to interested parties in the order of their priority and likelihood of receiving payment.

The order of who gets paid first in liquidation is as follows:

Secured creditors

A secured creditor is the first type of creditor to be paid in liquidation. A secured creditor refers to those who have an interest over the company’s assets (mortgage or charge).

A secured creditor also has the right to retrieve a receiver for those who default on their repayments. Engaging in an independent receiver results in the receiver selling some or all of the company’s assets to ensure the debt is repaid.

Priority creditors

Next to be paid are priority creditors (employees), those who have a legal priority during the liquidation.

Unsecured creditors

Unsecured creditors are the last to be paid during liquidation. An unsecured creditor are those who have no collateral over the company’s assets (trading partners, ATO etc). They may be able to retrieve funds in the form of dividends after secured and priority creditors are paid.