Grays reportedly sold, but faces uncertain future
Quadrant has reportedly sold online auction house Grays.com after several attempts, but the new owner is considering an insolvency option for the business to resolve its debt.
According to the Australian Financial Review, Quadrant agreed to sell Grays to Slattery Auctions for a nominal amount, six years after acquiring the controlling stake in the company.
The auction business is sitting on a $10 million debt after levied by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission last year over misleading representations about cars in its listing descriptions. The company’s annual EBITDA is approximately $600,000.
Quadrant planned to list Grays on the ASX in 2021 and expected to generate $132.9 million in net revenue and $28.8 million in EBITDA that year. The business was said to make more than 80 per cent of profit from selling industrial equipment.
Sources told the AFR that Slattery had acquired Grays’s debt and was considering several restructuring options, including an insolvency.
The acquisition is expected to create plenty of synergies, given that both Slattery and Grays focus on industrial equipment and automotive sales.
According to Grays’ website, the auction house also offers products in categories such as IT and consumer electronics, wine and fine jewellery.
The company provides full national coverage across Australia and New Zealand, with main offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Darwin, Perth and Wagga Wagga. It covers about 50,000sqm of warehouse space, 160,000sqm of yard space and other additional smaller sites and regional depots.
Earlier this year, Quadrant was exploring options to sell the Amart Furniture and Freedom Furniture chains.
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