Now another disaster to do with the administration......
Traveland was sold by the administrators of Ansett, who accepted some $25M of liabilities to sell it, then that Company sold it again, now it is in trouble again, and the administrators of Ansett still have this $25M liability.......
(QUOTE)
Traveland in strife after botched sale
By Sophie Morris
28nov01
FOR the second time in less than three months, Traveland, a former subsidiary of Ansett, was placed in voluntary administration yesterday, jeopardising 553 jobs and travellers' plans.
It emerged yesterday that Internova MCI, the technology company that bought the travel agency from the Ansett administrators on September 24, sold it two weeks after winning the furious bidding war with several other travel industry players.
Internova company secretary Tony de Govrik said a group of shareholders called the Australasian Investment Company bought the travel agency on October 8 after some of Internova MCI's industry backers withdrew.
The return to administration came as no surprise to the staff, whose past four pay cheques were delayed, prompting the Australian Services Union to take the owners to the Industrial Relations Commission.
ASU spokeswoman Lauren Hutchins said there had been 36 redundancies since the sale to Internova, and consistent delays in fortnightly payments had prompted a further 160 employees to resign over the past 10 weeks.
"Employees are still waiting for their pay packet for the past fortnight, which is now late. We were negotiating with management about payment on Friday," Ms Hutchins said.
She said the union believed Internova Travel planned to implement redundancies under the General Employment Entitlements and Redundancy Scheme, which was less generous than the conditions accorded to former Ansett workers.
"We were not made aware of the subsequent sale of Traveland, and if we had been we would have asked the same questions about workers' entitlements that we did in the negotiations with Internova and the Ansett administrators," Ms Hutchins said.
New administrator Richard Albarran, of Hall Chadwick, said the franchise network of 270 centres would continue to trade as a buyer was sought for the 104 ticket outlets.
"We sympathise with the difficult situation the franchisees and 553 Internova Travel employees have encountered since the Ansett collapse," Mr Albarran said.
"We are also aware of the difficult situation in which this places customers. We ask them to be patient as we work through the issues."
When Internova MCI salvaged Traveland from the assets of the collapsed Ansett, it announced its intention to expand the travel agency.
After Internova bought Traveland for an undisclosed sum 10 days after Ansett's collapse, Ansett administrator Andersen took on about $25million of liabilities.
Mr Albarran said Traveland would keep trading and he expected an outcome within 28 days.