Optima creditors bill goes into the millions

Optima's creditors' bill will run to at least a few million dollars, according to its administrators.

Co-administrator, David Mansfield of Moore Stephens, identified banks as the biggest creditors, as well as its employees. Optima had about 100 staff at the time administrators were appointed.

Mansfield said several parties had already staked a claim to acquire all or part of the business. Moore Stephens was appointed as voluntary administrators on July 24 after the company called a halt on its share trading. The first creditors' meeting was held on August 4. Moore Stephens are now wading through the list of applications and looking for buyers interested in the ASX-listed company's PC assembly business, as well as its retail arm, Digital City, and 3Cshop SMB reseller business.

"At this stage it comes down to the company being liquidated or entering a deed of company arrangement, which should provide a better outcome for creditors," Mansfield said.

However, the biggest issue was finding someone to take over the warranty claims, Mansfield said. Several third-party players, including NSW-based distributor, Impact Systems and PC manufacturer, Pioneer, have already expressed interest in working with Optima's customers on warranties, but Mansfield warned the job was bigger than first anticipated.

"I don't think they [interested parties] know the scale of this or the amount of warranties," he said. "We're providing further information to them... we will see if some will take over the work for nothing or charge customers a small fee."

A second creditors' meeting will be held on August 28, with a more comprehensive creditors report sent to debtors in the next couple of weeks, Mansfield said.

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