Boat builder for sale
(Bristol, RI) The builder of Volvo Ocean Race entrant PUMA, Eric Goetz Custom Sailboats, Inc. was petitioned into Receivership, effective Jan. 6, 2009, after having laid off workers on Dec 31st. A story published in Scuttlebutt 2787 noted how the company’s troubles began in December, but this was not fully truthful, as Scuttlebutt has known of their cash flow problems since spring of 2008.
Now, with Citizens Bank holding a $1.9 million note on the company, Eric Goetz is leading a new entity to buy his company back, and the State of Rhode Island currently holds Eric’s offer of $400,000 as the leading bid. An auction will be held on March 6, 2009 to purchase all assets free and clear of any liens. Details for anyone interested in becoming a potential bidder are available here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/0224
posted by Blogger @ 10:18 AM
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Disclosure: Goetz Custom Boats had been buying ads from Scuttlebutt in 2008, but struggling to keep up with payments. At the time, Scuttlebutt was assured by General Manager Guy J. Gauvin that payments would come so Scuttlebutt remained flexible and extended payment terms. However, Scuttlebutt now sits on a four figure unpaid balance. These comments by Gauvin were sent to Scuttlebutt on Feb. 24, 2009, and would now suggest that maybe they should have stopped buying things they likely could not pay for:
“Our problems began early in the year (2008) when our bank decided to pull our line of credit because they did not wish to be in the marine business any longer and felt that it was a risk.
“Without a working line of credit balancing daily invoices along with trying to collect debt from customers became our only focus. All of the stories that have come out about the company only tell a slight portion of the whole story. What they don't say nor do we disclose is the amount of money that we have not collected from our customers who do not pay their bills, or the contractor that built a multi-million dollar CNC machine that does not work and has since gone out of business or the bank that no longer wants to loan money even though we were never late with payments. None of the past articles mentioned that Eric poured every last dime he had into this company to keep it running and to continue after the customer the customer pulled out was just not an option any more. There was no money left.
“The customer pulling out (in December 2008) was the last straw and if we did not have all of the other pressures that we experienced earlier in the year it would not have had such a dramatic impact on the company. But when you are working without a line of credit and you are sitting on hundreds of thousands of dollars of accounts receivables, a CNC machine that you invested millions of working capital into and it does not contribute revenue and then suddenly half of your remaining cash flow disappears it spells disaster.”
Does anyone know about a new LLC that Eric licensed on Dec. 5, 2008? When Eric is getting ready to lay off everyone on Dec 31, 2008, and is going into receivership on Jan 6, 2009, he has already started a new company. Details:
CEKI, LLC: M: Eric Goetz, 115 Broad Common Rd., Bristol 02809. A: A. Max Kohlenberg, c/o Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP, 2800 Financial Plaza, Providence 02903. -- http://www.projo.com/business/content/BZ_new_businesses_2_01-02-09_KBCQLH3_v3.314f9f8.html
Same players...So does my company get paid for product I delivered in the Summer of 2008 even though you guys are now allegedly someone else...? The whole thing sucks!! Hard to be sympathetic
I hadn't heard that Goetz formed a new LLC. The link listed by Scuttleblog is not live. Anyone have a better one? By the way, not only did Goetz owe the bank 1.9 million but owed hundreds of other suppliers an additional $1.5 million. Us small guys will get absolutely nothing. It is just not ethical.
The link for the Porvidence Journal is working, but is not clickable. Cut and paste to see the listing of new businesses formed: http://www.projo.com/business/content/BZ_new_businesses_2_01-02-09_KBCQLH3_v3.314f9f8.html
Word on the docks around Rhode Island is that the receivership was all part of a plan that Goetz cooked up to get rid of the debt and keep his company. Seems dodgy at best.
Here is an interesting RI state site. Looks like Goetz was taking steps back in November to set up other companies.
Go to this search site and plug in the numbers 487464 and 487694
http://ucc.state.ri.us/CorpSearch/CorpSearchInput.asp
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