An iconic Williamstown restaurant has gone into liquidation to repay a tax debt, unpaid creditors and workers’ wages.
The Australian Tax Office petitioned the Supreme Court for beachfront restaurant Sirens to be sold to recoup unpaid taxes from the restaurant’s parent company, Sarah Georgiou.
Liquidator David Vasudevan said the restaurant was shut down because it “wasn’t generating sufficient money to meet existing commitments”.
“It was certainly a loss-making business when we walked in,” he said.
“We’ve received a number of offers, which we’re going through at the moment. We hope to do a quick sell … we don’t really want to delay this process because it will be a good opportunity to trade during summer months.”
Mr Vasudevan said the company had been running Sirens for about 17 years. He would not flag a potential sale price.
While he would not specify the amount of taxes owing, Mr Vasudevan said it had been “ongoing for a considerable period of time”.
Asked if the company would walk away with money after selling Sirens and paying its debts, Mr Vasudevan said there were “a few outstanding creditors”.
“We will be holding a meeting of creditors, but that will be held most likely in a month’s time because we’d like to report something substantial to them.”
