Acura Bio Group Pty Ltd - Case Update

Acura Bio Group Pty Ltd, a Brisbane-based biopharmaceutical contract manufacturer, entered liquidation on 6 September 2023, after having previously entered voluntary administration on 13 July. Anthony Connelly, Jamie Harris and Mark Holland of McGrathNichol, who were already acting as joint administrators, were appointed joint liquidators. Last month, in their capacity as voluntary administrators, they recommended that the company be placed into liquidation for several reasons, including that no DOCA proposal has been submitted and liquidation will allow for a distribution to meet at least part of the employee priority claims. In addition, while the administrators’ preliminary investigations indicated that the company was solvent prior to their appointment, the company is likely now insolvent because it no longer has access to funding from its ultimate holding company, and various claims against the company in relation to customer contracts and employee entitlements likely crystallised on the appointment of administrators / cessation of the company’s business.