KEY POINTS:
A Lower Hutt baby buggy manufacturer hit by more than $20 million in debt should be on the market as a going concern within a fortnight, says the receiver.
Tritec Manufacturing, maker of Mountain Buggy push chairs, cut a quarter of its staff last month before directors called in the receivers this month in the face of mounting debts.
PricewaterhouseCoopers' receiver John Fisk said the sale of the company would be advertised in the next couple of weeks.
There was already significant interest in the company, which employs 83 people.
Comments by competitors that the business had "collapsed" were not helpful, Mr Fisk said.
Phil&teds, which also produces baby buggies, said in a flippant press release that it rejected pleas for a multi-billion dollar bailout of the baby buggy industry - parodying moves for a United States auto industry bailout.
"While it's true that the New Zealand buggy industry has halved overnight, our half is going absolutely gangbusters, just quietly; not to dance on their grave at all," said phil&teds' "chief cook and bottle washer" Campbell Gower.
Gower expressed sympathy for Tritec and he had expected them to have had a fantastic sales year.
However, Fisk said Tritec was continuing to trade and was still honouring warranties.
It would go onto the market as a going concern. The business had about $22 million of debt.
The company, which exports 90 per cent of its product, blamed the international downturn.
- NZPA
