Bizdojo Auckland in liquidation, owes ATEED $340k in unpaid rent

BizDojo co-founder Nick Shewring opened the site at the GridAkl in 2016. Photo/File.

Co-working space Bizdojo Auckland has gone into liquidation.

The liquidators first report, filed with the Companies Office on January 31, confirms that Brendon Gibson and Neale Jackson from KordaMentha were appointed joint liquidators for the company.

Co-working involves the renting of shared office space and facilities and has been a traditional model for tech start-ups and creative companies.

The creditors voted to place the company into liquidation on January 19 and the liquidators were then appointed on January 25.

The report said Bizdojo had no employees and no known debtors, but had been unable to pay rent at the leased location at the GridAkl, located at 101 Pakenham Street.

According to the report, the company owed approximately $373,000, primarily relating to the lease obligations on the Auckland premises.

Approximately $340,000 of the total amount is owed to ATEED, which runs the GridAkl. A further $31,900 is owed to recruitment firm Robert Walters.

Co-founders Nick Shewring and Jonah Merchant started BizDojo in 2009, opening three spaces in Auckland as well as one apiece in Wellington and Christchurch.

The Auckland site at Pakenham Street was opened in January 2016, but it is no longer listed on the Bizdojo website.

The other Bizdojo locations are not in liquidation.

The company's website also says that it will have three more sites – in Ponsonby, Mount Wellington and Queenstown – opening in 2018.

KordaMentha's Jackson said it was too early to tell whether the creditors would be able to recover the full amount owed.

He would not speculate on the time the case would take, but said such processes usually took between six and 12 months.

Earlier today, NBR quoted sources saying that Bizdojo had been sold to multi-national firm IWG and that an announcement of the sale would follow shortly.

NBR reported that ATEED wanted to secure its outstanding debt before the business changed hands.

Jackson would not comment on the potential sale of BizDojo, saying it was not his place to speak about that aspect of the business.