TRIMART, the insolvent supermarket chain, has avoided bankruptcy.
That’s because scores of business houses in this country voted in the affirmative for a proposal put forward by the supermarket that they take as little as 50 cents in every dollar.
During a closed-door meeting at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre yesterday, with a gathering that included more than 70 creditors – owed in excess of $12 million – as well as Supervisor of Insolvency Dianna Greenidge and attorney-at-law for debtor Trimart, Anthony Audain, the creditors voted in favour of the amendment.
Two creditors, owed just under $13 000, voted against the proposal.
One creditor, owed more than $100 000, summed it up best.
“We had no choice really. To vote against the proposal would have been suicide, kind of shooting oneself in the foot. It was either something or nothing.”
Had the proposal not been accepted, it would have meant automatic bankruptcy for Trimart and creditors getting as little as ten cents in every dollar.
Last December, there was a proposal for as much as 85 cents in every dollar to be paid to the creditors, but with Trimart outlets, Rendezvous in particular, struggling, an amendment was made to the proposal.
Trimart trustee Grenville Phillips, who chaired the meeting, said Trimart was still in a deep financial hole.
“Trimart continues to enjoy a stay. It is still in insolvency but it is not in bankruptcy. That will continue until such time as we see the outcome of the proposal in its final form,” he said.
Phillips said the process would now reach the court.
“I will now have the authority to go to court with this amended proposal and ask the court to approve the proposal. Nothing can happen until the proposal is approved by the court. The court will not approve a proposal unless the creditors at first sanction it,” he said.
However, Phillips said everything was not quite “cut and dried”.
“The proposal, although approved by creditors, is still subject to fulfilment of a number of conditions,” he said.
Creditors such as Pelican Market Suppliers Inc., Lasco Barbados, Mount Gay and Star Chick, all of whom are owed more than $100 000 each, will now collect just half of that.
Shareholder creditors will get substantially less.
