Shell of ASX-listed pharmaceutical manufacturing company for sale after collapse

Urgent expressions of interest are being sought for an ASX-listed pharmaceutical manufacturing company that collapsed into voluntary administration late last month.

An advertisement printed today calls for urgent expressions of interest for both the assets and intellectual property of Stirling Products, which appointed William Buck as administrators late last month.

However, in the company’s accounts for the first half of the 2011 year, it warned that it had written down to zero the value of its IP assets, and that this would remain until revenue was being generated from IP protected products.

Administrator Robert Whitton was contacted this morning by SmartCompany but was unavailable prior to publication. The firm will be accepting offers through this Friday, August 19.

The company itself has three divisions – Stirling Health, Botanical Products and its own manufacturing arm. It conducts research and development activities which have led to the invention of products such as High Density Aerosol, while it has also dealt with the development products specifically for animals.

Stirling Health has sold a number of baby care, beauty and pharmaceutical products. The company has a manufacturing base in Canada, although its corporate headquarters are located in Sydney. However, it also has projects ongoing in South Africa.

It also recently requested a trading halt as it prepared a dual-listing in Britain. However, managing director Peter Boonen said in his latest address that the level of interest in the company there surpasses local demand.

“I am pleased to report that the institutional and analyst interest in the company in the UK is a direct contrast to that in Australia…. this, based upon our experience, is clearly and unfortunately not the case in Australia.”

“It is a real pity, that this value and opportunity is not reflected in our market in Australia and that we clearly need to move to another market where our industry business and assets can be compared to listed peers as well as far better understood.”

Boonen also addressed shareholders in saying that the latest placement was not fully completed, with shares being sold down by about 50%. He also complained of a “depressed” share price.

In the financial results for the first half of the 2011 year, the company wrote that a major proposed financing plan was terminated, and that replacement capital raising arrangements bad been affected by the Christmas holidays.

It reported an $8.2 million loss for the half year.