ATTENTION SERVICE POINT USA VENDORS !!!

UPDATE:  IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO SP USA VENDORS!

If you have any interest, at all, in getting paid some of what your company is owed, you need to move very, very quickly to put into motion an orderly process for the liquidation of SP USA’s assets (including the collection of its accounts receivable) and the distribution of whatever cash remains after SP USA’s tax obligations and secured obligations are paid.  If vendors do not do anything, it is virtually guaranteed that vendors wind up with nothing.

From what we’ve learned from various sources, some internal, some external, SP USA shut down operations last Friday.  And, based on what we’ve heard, so far, the Managing Director of SP USA terminated all SP USA employees, effective last Friday and, right afterwards, terminated himself.  There is always the possibility that not everyone is gone; perhaps someone still remains on SP USA’s payroll and is working at the SP USA HQ office in Woburn.  If I were a vendor, I’d want to check that out.

If everyone is gone, and I mean “everyone”, here’s the situation (in my humble opinion.)  SP USA was not a small business.  If, at the end, it had 100 or so employees, it is likely that, at the end, SP USA, was still generating sales in the neighborhood of $1 mil per month.  SP USA was not a cash business – and customers don’t always pay their bills on time – so it is very likely that SP USA’s is owed in the neighborhood of $1 million or more (its accounts receivable.)  In addition, I’m fairly positive that SP USA owned at least some of its non-cash assets (equipment, computers, furniture, fixtures, etc.), and the liquidation of those assets could raise at least some cash.  Unfortunately, the way SP USA walked away from its business – and customers – the significant “goodwill” (asset) that SP USA did have evaporated overnight. 

In addition to my comments above, if no one is left at SP USA, that raises these questions:

-Where are the books and records (especially invoices and A/R records)?

-Who’s going to collect what’s owed to SP USA?

-Who’s going to inventory (supplies, consumables, equipment) what’s left?

-Who’s going to return leased equipment to lessors?

-Who’s going to convert non-cash assets to cash?

-Who’s going to distribute what’s left….to pay vendors?

-Who’s going to ensure that vendors are dealt with fairly?

-Etc., Etc. Etc.

I’m positive that everyone of you know that the U.S. has laws that pertain to insolvent/bankrupt companies – our country’s bankruptcy laws.

Unfortunately, the Bankruptcy Court will take no action on a case until it knows that there is a case!  Apparently, no one from SP USA has filed a bankruptcy petition with the BK Court, and, if there is no one left at SP USA, then there is no one from the company to file a bankruptcy petition.

And, if that is the case, then Vendors need to step quickly to the plate and file an “involuntary” Chapter 7 against SP USA.  It takes three vendors to do that.  It requires that they, together, complete a simple form, submit statements regarding what happened, and state the amount they are owed. And, in this case, vendors should request that the BK court take immediate action – immediate action to take control of SP USA premises, computers, books and records. And, immediate action to appoint a Chapter 7 “Trustee”.

If SP USA is not put into Chapter 7, then it is, as I said previously, virtually guaranteed that vendors will end up with absolutely nothing.  If, on the other hand, SP USA is put into Chapter 7, then the appointment of a Trustee will, at the very least, provide at least some order to the “wind-up” process and ensure that the wind-up process is handled in an open, transparent, fair manner.

UPDATE ON NOV 14^TH, 10:00 AM

Forced Into Bankruptcy: The Involuntary Bankruptcy Process

Link to article:

http://bankruptcy.cooley.com/2012/05/articles/business-bankruptcy-issues/forced-into-bankruptcy-the-involuntary-bankruptcy-process/

THIS SECTION LAST UPDATED AT 12:00 Noon NOV 15^TH:

(In this “top section”, will “update” this blog-post with information I receive from SP USA vendors)

Anonymous Vendor #1 – SP USA owes us $8,801.00

Anonymous Vendor #2 – SP USA owes us $25,134.96

Anonymous Vendor #3 – SP USA owes us $4,470.00

Canon USA  – SP USA owes us $8,355.00 (prox)

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ATTENTION SERVICE POINT USA VENDORS !!!

If you are a reprographer, please point your vendors to this blog-post.  Thank you.

To Vendors who were doing business with Service Point USA:

As most of the reprographics industry knows by now, Service Point USA shut down operations last Friday.  A truly extraordinary event.

I have a subscription to U.S. Court filings, and, so far, I’ve not found any bankruptcy petitions (Chapter 7 or Chapter 11) filed by SP USA.

If your company was doing business with SP USA and if your company is owed money by SP USA, then please kindly report to me – via e-mail to joel.salus@mac.com -  “an estimate” of the amount of money SP USA owes your company.

If I do get responses from vendors, I will publish them; I will publish “the amount” that is owed, but, unless I’m specifically given permission, I will  not publish the name of the vendor who reported the amount.

In other words, if you give me authorization to include your company’s name, the entry will be published as per this example:

XYZ Paper Co, Inc. – Amount owed, approximately $12,000.

Or, if you don't give me authorization to include your name, the entry will be published as per this example:

Anonymous Vendor #1 – Amount owed, approximately $6,000.

If you are a lessor, please kindly report the equipment you own that's at a Service Point USA location (or FM site.)