A case of déjà vu for French-owned stationery firm.

 

The Australian arm of French-owned stationery firm Hamelin Brands has gone into administration for the second time in three years.

 

Administrator De Vries Tayeh – the same firm that handled the administration of Hamelin Brands Pty Ltd (then trading as Bantex) in late 2017 – was appointed on 27 January.

 

The first meeting of creditors will be held via Zoom at 12pm on 8 February.

 

The purpose of the meeting(s) is to consider:

 

a. whether to appoint a committee of inspection; and

b. if so, who are to be the committee's members.

 

At the meeting, creditors may also, by resolution:

 

a. remove the administrator(s) from office; and

b. appoint someone else as administrator(s) of the company.

 

Privately-owned Groupe Hamelin re-entered the Australian market in 2018 by taking a controlling interest in the Bantex Group.

 

Hamelin sold the company to Australian Office Wholesalers in 2001 as it focused on integrating the Elba and Bantex brands in Europe following their acquisition by Hamelin in 1999.

 

Bantex Australia (under the name Hamelin Brands) went into voluntary administration at the end of 2017 and operated under a deed of company arrangement (DOCA) after reaching an agreement with its creditors. 

 

“The company was restructured during the voluntary administration and is now healthy,” Groupe Hamelin CEO Eric Joan told OPI at the time. “The business was run for years with a lack of working capital and too high a cost structure.

 

"These problems have now been solved and we are very excited by the opportunity," he said.

 

Bantex Australia was rebranded as Hamelin Brands and markets the well-known Bantex and Quill products.

 

Under the French company’s control, Franck Troquay, who previously ran Hamelin’s business in Malyasia, was appointed managing director with former Bantex boss Michael Stathakis appointed business development manager.

 

In June 2019, Troquay was replaced by Nicholas Afriat, who had previously been managing director at Elba, one of the UK’s largest manufacturers of filing products.

 

At the same time, Stathakis was re-positioned as sales director.

 

Administrators De Vries Tayeh has been contacted for comment.