It’s all over – Starleaton now in liquidation

Starleaton has failed to meet its monthly repayments promised to creditors and has been placed into liquidation.

Sprinter received a schedule of the payments that Starleaton CEO Ben Eaton made, which was supposed to be $33,333.33 every month, for 24 months.

The schedule showed $800,000 was promised and $366,666.30 paid, with the last instalment of $33,333 paid on 28 February 2025.

Starleaton only managed to complete 11 monthly payments of the 24 promised, resulting in a $433,333.70 shortfall.

Creditors were informed of the liquidation this afternoon at 5.22pm in a statement titled ‘General Update on the Deed of Company Arrangement’ issued by Simon Cathro and Andrew Blundell from Cathro & Partners.

“Pursuant to Clause 7.5 of the DOCA, the companies were obliged to make 24 equal monthly instalments in the amount of $33,333.33 into the Deed Fund on the last business day of each month, for the benefit of creditors,” the statement said.

“The Companies defaulted on this obligation and failed to make payment of monthly instalments as and when they fell due.

“The Administrators issued a default notice to the Companies pursuant to Clause 7.5 of the DOCA for the unpaid contributions required to be paid into the Deed Fund.”

“The Companies failed to observe the default notice.

“Having regard to these circumstances, we write to advise that on 11 June 2025:

a) the Administrators terminated the DOCA due to the Breach, which the Administrators deemed was not able to be remedied within a reasonable time;

b) the Companies have been placed into Liquidation; and

c) the Administrators have been appointed as joint and several liquidators.

“The Liquidators will conduct investigations into the affairs of the Companies, including in relation to any potential recoveries.

“The Liquidators propose to issue a further report to creditors by 11 September 2025, including in relation to the likelihood of any dividend in the liquidation.

“Due to the liquidation, the Companies will cease trading shortly and the employment of its current employees will be terminated.”

Ben Eaton was unable to make the 24 monthly payments of $33,333.33 scheduled to end in March 2026

“Pursuant to section 556 of the Act employee entitlements have a priority over unsecured creditors and even ahead of certain secured creditors when there are circulating assets. The federal government also has a scheme called the Fair Entitlements Guarantee (FEG) scheme which can assist employees if there are insufficient realisations in a Liquidation and FEG will then stand in the place of employees for any amounts paid.

“We suggest that all employees of the Companies lodge a claim with FEG for their unpaid entitlements. Further details to employees with their estimated entitlements values will be provided shortly.”

Under a section titled ‘Next Steps’, the statement provided clarity on the timeline for the next stages of the liquidation.

There are key areas that will be addressed in any Liquidation. A statutory report to creditors will be issued to creditors within three months of appointment as Liquidators. Once we have finalised our requirements in these areas we will proceed to finalise the Liquidation, which will result in the company being deregistered.

The ‘Ongoing’ activities of the liquidators include: ‘Realise Assets’, ‘Investigations’, ‘Pursue Recoveries’, ‘Reporting’ and ‘Dividend’.

The estimated finalisation of the liquidation will be in two years from now – in June 2027.

In an open letter to the industry published in April 2024, Starleaton CEO Ben Eaton suggested “liquidation would have been an easier option” than undertaking the Deed of Company Arrangement.

“In many respects liquidation would have been an easier option with the FEG scheme providing for the staff entitlements. However, this in my view was not an acceptable outcome as the result for all the other creditors would have been a NIL return.”

Ben Eaton has been contacted by Sprinter for comment, but has not answered or returned the calls made thus far.

Comment below to have your say on this story.

If you have a news story or tip-off, get in touch at editorial@sprinter.com.au.  

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2 thoughts on “It’s all over – Starleaton now in liquidation

  1. Interesting.
    I am surprised nobody has jumped onto this, as Ben is certainly an expert in running a company into the ground.
    Not sure if his mentorship is worth anything.

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