Liquidator appointed to Louth company

The High Court has appointed a provisional liquidator to a Co Louth-based company which operated as the regional base of a French online retailer.

Today Mr Justice Roderick Murphy appointed accountant Micheal McAteer as provisional liquidator to CDiscount Retail Ltd after being informed that the company is insolvent and is unable to pay its debts.

The court heard that the company has an excess of liabilities over assets of €8.2m.

Gareth O'Connell Bl for the petitioner CDiscount SA, which is based in Bordeaux France, said it is the biggest creditor of the company and is owed some €4.6m.

The court heard that the petitioner is a 50% shareholder in CDiscount Retail Ltd. The other 50% is owned by NCBH Ltd.

NCBH is 50% owned by Dutch based RIG Investments, which is owned by RIG Investments is the investment vehicle run by a Mr Henk Keilman, and by the MD of the insolvent firm Mr Ciaran O'Donoghue.

The court heard that following negotiations between the parties the Irish based company was established in December of 2008.

The French based company is the largest retailer of on-line goods in France. It is extremely successful there and in Germany and has an annual turnover of €900m.

CDiscount, which was founded in 1998 Herve, Nicolas and Christophe Charle, hoped its operations could expand into both the Irish and the UK markets. However counsel the company had "not been able to replicate the successful model in France".

Following the losses incurred by the firm it was decided by the French shareholders not to put further funds into the company.

The court heard that insolvent company had an IT base in Dundalk and a distribution depot in Oxford in the UK.

Counsel said that once it had been advertised that the firm was seeking to be wound up there was a concern that goods in transit may be held on to by creditors.

Counsel said that the appointment of a liquidator would ensure that all creditors of the company were treated equally.

The matter was made returnable to later this month.