A report to creditors has been prepared by the liquidators of two Starleaton companies that entered liquidation earlier this year.

The companies that entered liquidation were known as Starleaton Holdings Pty Ltd and SDS Bidco Pty Ltd.

The report, prepared by Andrew Blundell and Simon Cathro of Cathro & Partners, is designed to provide creditors with “an update on the progress of the Liquidations, the likelihood of a dividend and other matters as required under the law”.

The estimated return to staff for their wages and annual leave is estimated to be between 40.86 cents in the dollar and 100 cents in the dollar, while superannuation, redundancy and payment in lieu of notice of termination is estimated to be anywhere from 0-100.

According to the liquidators, the ability to pay a dividend to a creditor in a Liquidation and the timing of that dividend is affected by many factors, including the size and complexity of the administration, the amount of assets realisable, the costs of realising assets, potential recoveries and the commercial benefits of pursuing them, the number and value of creditors, the volume of enquiries from creditors and stakeholders and the impact of statutory priorities.

“Whilst we have provided an estimated dividend range below, this estimate may change as there are likely to be factors not yet resolved. The dividend estimate below should be considered in conjunction with the analysis of assets and liabilities and our investigations findings,” the report said.

The report references the time frame of the businesses, that originally went into voluntary administration on 18 January 2024 and were initially saved from liquidation on 15 March 2024 with a Deed of Company Arrangement (DOCA) that was executed on 28 March.

The businesses then entered liquidation on 11 June 2025 after failing to make the promised repayments to staff for their entitlements of $33,333.33 per month even after a breach notice was issued on 30 April.

“As outlined in the Administrators’ Reports, Starleaton Holdings and SDS Bidco (together, the Companies) owed in excess of $6 million to Peter Eaton, the late Leanne Eaton (parents of the directors), and other related entities, including Starleaton Pty Limited prior to our appointment,” the creditors report said.

“Mr. Peter Eaton is the father of the directors and was the former owner of the business of the Companies. He and his related parties hold a registered ALLPAP security interest over the Companies, which appears to relate to the sale of the business to the current owners in 2016/2017. As part of the DOCA, the related parties, namely Peter & Leanne Eaton, Starleaton Pty Ltd, and SDS Distributions Pty Ltd executed a Priority Deed. This Priority Deed effectively granted the Deed Administrators a first-ranking security interest over the assets of the Companies, with the balance of the related creditors agreeing to subordinate their interests. Accordingly, the rights of the noted related party creditors under their securities were subordinated to the rights of the Deed Administrators, to the extent necessary to give effect to the terms of the DOCA.

Following the appointment of the liquidators, the first-ranking security interest held by the Deed Administrators remains in effect. As such, the liquidators now hold the first-ranking security interest over the Companies’ assets.

As part of the original sale agreement between the related parties and SDS Bidco, the following assets were excluded assets:

• The “Starleaton” name;
• All domain names incorporating the “Starleaton” branding, logos, and livery.
• All registered and unregistered “Starleaton” trademarks; and
• Items of plant and equipment listed in the schedules to the Deed, which included Bmec Model STB45, Slitter/Re-roller, Avantec log slitter, Robart Slitter, Crown CGC30E ride-on forklift.

Under the terms of the agreement, these assets were licensed back to the business of the Companies by Starleaton Pty Ltd and do not form part of the assets available to creditors subject to the liquidation.

As reported previously by Sprinter, these assets have been used to allow Starleaton to re-commence trading as Starleaton Pty Ltd, using the same website and branding of the business.

The report to creditors also outlines the causes of the company’s failure.

“The Director has not advised a reason for the failure of the Companies. However, as we mentioned earlier, the Companies were placed into liquidation due to the Breach of the DOCA terms by their inability to continue to make the promised contributions. We consider the additional reasons for failure to be: Deterioration in trading performance, Inadequate cash flow or high cash use and Under capitalisation.”

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