Green Communications entered voluntary administration late last month, entangling its two subsidiaries iGreen Broadband and iGreen Telecommunications in a quandary over how to deal with the group's debts.
The appointed administrator, PriceWaterhouseCooper's (PWC) Phil Carter, said he expected that Green Communications' business would be split into separate entities and sold. However, Carter today said such task was simply too complicated.
"Trying to work out which companies which assets and which own what liabilities would be a task in itself that you could spend quite a bit of time unravelling and all of that would be something of pyrrhic exercise for the creditors," said Carter.
Carter claims each of the creditors accepted that selling the company as whole was the best outcome at a meeting held last Friday.
"The alternative would have been to go into liquidations and leave the creditors to get their hands on the spoils," Carter added.
Carter said the deed of company was ratified by Green Communications directors on condition of the company's sale to Telecorp.
Green Communications entered administration in a cloud of controversy. It is understood that the company was placed in administration at the request of one of its main creditors, SingTel Optus, whose services compete with the iGreen post-paid broadband and telecommunications services.
According to reports in February, iGreen directors disputed the Optus debt but the details and nature of their complaint were never revealed.
Carter today revealed that Green Communications' debts totalled around AU$10 million, but declined to provide a more detailed breakdown of liabilities of each of company's subsidiaries.
Green Communications creditors include SingTel Optus, Telstra, MCI Worldcom National Australia Bank, a number of its company directors and a handful of minor interests.
Telecorp managing director Steve Picton said the total cost of the acquisition was a combination debt and cash payments valued at several million Australian dollars.
Picton was unable to say how many of Green Communications 35 employees would be retained.
He said the company had extended an offer of an employment to one employee of Green Communications following the acquisition but said some job losses were inevitable.
Picton estimates that iGreen's telecommunications and broadband businesses have a combined total of around 3,000 residential and business customers.
Picton said that Telecorp had made arrangements with a third-party broadband provider to continue providing service to its DSL customers, while Telecorp would assume control of billing and customer service components of the business.
