By James Wells
BRISBANE: Deloitte’s John Greig, the board appointed administrator to the BSL business, has admitted to an air of “competitive tension” within the School Street head office of the retail group as the bidding war continues for the company’s franchise business.
“It is always a difficult situation with two competing parties and representations are being made to the main stakeholders. There is a bit of competitive tension which is good from a receiver’s point of view and from our point of view. It is what we want between the purchasers, but not anyone else," Greig told Current.com.au.
“Whatever the outcome, the good thing will be that the BSL business in one form or another will continue with some or all of the franchisees.”
Greig said at this stage the negotiation is being controlled by PricewaterhouseCoopers receiver and manager, Phil Carter.
“My role is to participate to the extent needed to deliver the assets when the negotiations are concluded,” Greig said.
“Right now, I have to sit back and Phil has to progress with the sale negotiations. Once that is concluded and the Commonwealth Bank debt is cleared out, our role starts to be activated then and it will be mainly related to creditors to the group.
“We have extended the convening period to 22 December, so we will be having a creditors meeting between now and then. It depends on the sale process and any deed of company arrangement.”
Greig could not confirm whether the negotiations for the franchise business will be completed by the end of this week, as previously suggested.