Mossgreen folds

Founded in 2004 by Paul Sumner and Amanda Swanson, Mossgreen initially dealt in fine art, but expansion into other areas followed, including the addition of a motoring department in 2014 and the acquisition of other specialist auction houses, including Webb’s in New Zealand.

After several Melbourne auctions in 2015 and 2016, Mossgreen held their first Sydney auction in 2017, where the ex-Bob Morris Torana A9X sold for $705,000. Mossgreen also hosted the sale of the Clem Smith Collection in South Australia last August and ran the 2017 Motorclassica auction, where the ex-Duncan Hamilton and Bib Stillwell Jaguar D-Type was the star lot, tipped to sell for up to $8 million, but passed in at $5.5 million.

While all seemed good, alarm bells started ringing when the parent company – Mossgreen Pty Ltd – was placed under voluntary administration on 22 December.

An assessment by BDO, the appointed corporate advisors, found that Mossgreen had $12 million in debts, half of which was owed to one creditor alone. Disturbingly, another $5.8 million was reportedly owed to vendors, including six-figure sums to some sellers, but whether any of these had consignments with past Mossgreen car auctions has not been confirmed.

Shortly after the voluntary administration was revealed, Sumner pledged that all past vendors would be paid in full and staff would not lose their jobs, but at a creditors’ meeting on 4 January, those assurances seemed less likely, as BDO revealed that around 400 individual creditors were owed money and Mossgreen only had $3 million in assets.

A restructure plan proposed by Sumner proved unfeasible and Mossgreen’s collapse was made official in a statement released by BDO on 17 January. A wind-down of the business began shortly after, with more than 30 staff out of work (some reports say more than 50) as a result.

Goods consigned for future auctions will be returned to vendors in due course, according to BDO, but at time of writing, there was no word on whether past vendors will see some or any of the money still owed.

BDO said that offers to buy Mossgreen would be considered, with expressions of interest sought.