Optima shut down, assets auctioned off
Credit: Optima
The remnants of Australian PC maker Optima ICM have been auctioned at trading website Grays Online, but some equipment has been reserved to repay customers that are owed outstanding warranties from the failed company.
Moore Stephens, administrators of Optima ICM, is expected to make an announcement in the coming days regarding creditor claims relating to warranties on equipment purchased from Optima.
In July, Optima appointed the administrators to wind up its hardware manufacturing arm Optima Technology Solutions and electronics retailers Digital City Group and 3CSHOP International.
The coming announcement could be welcomed by Optima's single largest warranty claimant, the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority, which had lodged a $1.5 million creditors claim.
"We're going to make an announcement within the coming days as to the status of future warranty work with Optima goods. Some items have been quarantined for that work," Moore Stephens' corporate recovery manager, Trent McMillen told ZDNet.com.au today.
The downfall of Optima had left the RTA in a desktop ditch, having bought 5,000 desktops and laptops from it since 2005, with much of the equipment still under warranty.
Warranties on sold hardware also posed the greatest problem for Moore Stephens in its attempt to find buyers to take over the business as an ongoing concern.
Some remaining equipment from Digital City stores, which have since been closed, will be auctioned on Grays Online in the coming fortnight, while Optima ICM's Homebush manufacturing premises was in the process of being cleared out, said McMillen.
"We couldn't sell [the manufacturing business] as an ongoing concern. There was no interest in that," he said.
One remaining bundle of retail equipment will be auctioned off in the next fortnight, said McMillen.