Trade suppliers are furious as Whirlwind is officially put to death, with the company being placed in liquidation. Both parts of the business, melbourne and sydney, are now in the hands of Andrew Hewitt and Ahmed Bise from Grant Thornton.
Total debt is unknown, but two paper merchants both have more than $1m of invoices outstanding. A host of smaller creditors are likely to see minimal cents on the dollar for their outstanding invoices. The first creditors meeting has yet to be arranged.
Speaking to Print21 one major supplier said, “We have had Whirlwind on no-supply for the past two months because of the extent of its debt.” Another print insider close to the company said, “There is a lot more to come out, it will shock the industry.”
The Cester family-owned trade printer sold many of its assets to trade print giant CMYKhub last week; that money has been used to pay off banks. CMYKhub also took up a lease on the company’s Knoxfield print site. More than 50 ex-Whirlwind staff have been offered roles at CMYKhub in both Melbourne and Sydney. Taking the new jobs will not impact on their entitlements from the liquidation process.
The former Whirlwind staff were told by Andrew Cester to apply to the government’s Fegs scheme for…
