Guvera creditors accept new deal

Two subsidiaries of the music streaming service have been returned to Guvera management after creditor meetings.

Two subsidiaries of beleaguered music streaming service Guvera have been returned to Guvera management after two creditor meetings yesterday.

“The creditors accepted a Deed of Company Arrangement (DOCA) for each company”, joint voluntary administrator Ezio Senatore said yesterday in a statement.

“These DOCAs will provide greater certainty of a return to priority creditors, such as employees, than liquidation of the companies would have done.”

The terms of the arrangement were not disclosed and ­Guvera did not respond for ­comment.

Documents filed with the corporate regulator show Guvera Australia owed about $2 million and subsidiary Guv Services owed more than $10.5m when the two companies were put into administration in June.

The tax office was the single biggest creditor, owed more than $10m by Guv Services, which employed the group’s workers.

Music copyright collection societies APRA and AMCOS, which are run as a single organisation, were together owed more than $900,000 by Guvera Australia, which controlled the ­licences needed to run the streaming service.

Phone app developer NextFaze was hard hit, owed more than $462,000, while Melbourne media agency Media Partners was owed $235,000.

Two organisations Guvera sponsored as part of its PR blitz, Tennis Australia and the Melbourne Cup venue Victoria Racing Club, were left owed $285,000 and $297,000 respectively.

Other creditors included ­Guvera’s former PR firm Edelman, owed almost $34,000.

Last month administrator Neil Cussen of Deloitte told The Australian about 60 employees of Guv Services had been let go but about 20 had been re-employed elsewhere within Guvera.

The firm recently pulled out of the Australian market after a failed bid to list on the ASX, in a float that would have valued the company at more than $1 billion.

Australian users who now try to access the service are instead redirected to a “Goodbye” message. “Unfortunately, and with a heavy heart, the time has come to pull back from our operations here,” it says.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING: BEN BUTLER