Alice McCall emerged from voluntary administration on December 11 through a deed of company arrangement (DOCA), SV Partners administrator Ian Purchas has revealed to Ragtrader.
According to Purchas, Alice McCall owed $2.3 million to its largest related-party creditor - the title holder of the intellectual property - $5 million to ordinary unsecured creditors, $130,000 to redundant employees and $400,000 to the bank.
As part of the DOCA, creditors voted to accept a 10 cents on the dollar dividend, while employees will receive 100 cents on the dollar.
Speaking on the process, Purchas said that a restructuring option was the best course of action for the business, especially seeing as the IP holder of the Alice McCall trading name was not willing to sell.
"I was particularly positive about the potential of the business going into the administration.
"The reality was, there was never the intention to close it.
"We couldn't sell the business because there's a significant amount of value placed in the trading name (Alice McCall) and the company that trades as Alice McCall doesn't own that intellectual property.
"So potential purchasers that I spoke to who wanted to buy the business, wanted to buy the trading name, and the owner of the trading name wasn't prepared to sell it," he said.
The luxury label called in administrators on November 08 due to the significant downturn in sales from the COVID lockdowns and unsustainable rental agreements.
Restructuring the business, administrators closed 11 of 14 stores, leaving flagship locations in Westfield Sydney, Emporium Melbourne and QueensPlaza Brisbane operating.
As part of the process, 35 staff across the closed stores and some head office staff were made redundant, but will have their entitlements paid in full.
The business was returned to Alice McCall and her management team on December 11, and according to Purchas is trading well.