High Court sets date to hear Q-zar winding-up petition

The High Court will hear a petition to wind up the company which makes the popular laser game Quasar next week. The court was told yesterday that Q-Zar Manufacturing had effectively abandoned its factory in Tallaght without giving any notice to its 22 employees or creditors and had applied for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US.

Mr Justice Shanley turned down the application to install a provisional liquidator and instead "fast-tracked" the hearing to Friday next, November 28th.

The application yesterday was made on behalf of Datavision UK with an dress in Swindon and was supported by IDA Ireland, the Revenue Commissioners as well as companies Laser 2000 and Hormann Electric.

Mr Alex White, counsel for Datavision, applied to appoint Mr Tom Kavanagh of Kavanagh Chartered Accountants as provisional liquidator.

Mr Justice Shanley said he could not make the order to appoint a provisional liquidator yesterday as that "could upset the status quo".

However, he added that, if the creditors discovered that the assets in the company were uninsured, it may be appropriate to appoint Mr Kavanagh.

The laser game company closed its doors on November 1st leaving 22 people out of work. The IDA has now taken action to reclaim its 35-year lease.

According to the documents supplied to court, Datavision is owed £15,509 by Q-Zar for goods sold and supplied, and circuit court proceedings were initiated on November 21st.

Hormann Electronics is owed £35,931 and it also holds materials based on orders received with a sales value of around £500,000.

Laser 2000 has already been granted liberty to enter final judgment against the company for $300,000 (£200,000) by the Master of the High Court on November 4th.

The amounts owing to the Revenue and the IDA were not disclosed. However, both indicated that they are supportive of the petition.

It is also understood that a number of other creditors are owed substantial amounts of money.