Just hours after Apple announced it will be withdrawing its Apple Pay Later product and replacing it with a more traditional financing model which includes a financial institution, Laybuy has entered into a receivership.
Laybuy, a BNPL provider which launched in 2017 and once boasted around 766,000 customers across the UK, Australia and New Zealand, put itself up for sale in April and was looking to delist from the New Zealand’s junior stock exchange Catalist.
However, a buyer has failed to emerge and the New Zealand based company has now be placed into receivership, though it is possible the company could still be sold.
Included in the receivership, which came into effect on 17 June, are Laybuy Group Holdings Limited, Laybuy Holdings Limited and Laybuy Australia Pty Limited.
Often viewed as an alternative to bankruptcy, a receivership designates a receiver to manage the assets of a company typically in financial distress.
The role of a receiver primarily pertains to preserving the financial interests of company creditors, with the management of asset seeking to mitigate any financial losses they might incur.
With this, David Webb and Robert Campbell of Deloitte New Zealand have been named as receivers and managers of Laybuy Group Holdings Limited and Laybuy Holdings Limited, while Glen Kanevsky and Jason Tracy of Deloitte Australia have been appointed to Laybuy Australia Pty Limited.
According to Deloitte, the receivership was made “at the request of the companies’ directors, following efforts to seek additional investment and a sale of the business and/or assets”.
“The receivers are working with the companies’ employees, merchants and other affected stakeholders to assess the financial position of the companies and ascertain the way forward,” its statement continues.
Describing the appointment of receivers as “gut wrenching”, Gary Rohloff, co-founder and managing director of Laybuy, says the company was “working hard to execute a plan to profitability, but this was impacted by a sharp deterioration in the retail environment”.
“A deal to sell the business fell through at the last minute and this left the board with no option but to appoint receivers,” he added.
As stated through a notice on its website, Laybuy’s UK-based entities, along with “certain other entities” contained within the group, have not fallen subject to the receivership. Their services, however, “continue to remain unavailable until further notice”.
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