ECEC provider Precious Cargo enters liquidation as administrators appointed

South Australian early childhood education and care (ECEC) Precious Cargo has been wound up with liquidator’s appointing Heard Phillips Lieberenz to manage the business until new buyers are found. 

Precious Cargo was founded in 2006 by Cheryl Shigrov and operates seven ECEC centres across the Adelaide metropolitan area that offer a Montessori program to children aged 0 to 5 years old. 

A recent filing with ASIC confirms the development, with members resolving to wind up the company and appointing James Stuart McPherson liquidator. 

Liquidator appointments usually occur at the end result of an extended period of time during which the company has found it increasingly difficult to meet its external debt related obligations which in turn prompts owners, or their creditors, to seek to commence proceedings to close the business. 

In this instance, however, Mr McPherson has elected to appoint administrators to oversee the management of the company on behalf of the creditors until a new buyer can be found for the Group. 

As reported in The Advertiser, Heard Phillips Lieberenz have been named as the administrators and have since written to parents whose children attend the Group’s centres saying no staff have been terminated and it is ‘business as usual.’

“After stabilising the operations of your centre, we will quickly move into a phase where we will look to sell the childcare centre business to an experienced and financially stable new owner – preferably the sale will be as one group,’’ the firm allegedly said in their letter.

The administrators also highlighted that they would be working with Ms Shigrov and other management staff to ensure there is as little disruption as possible over the course of the process.