A chain of home cinema hi-fi stores has gone into administration after store owners demanded outstanding rent, triggering a complicated legal dispute.
Theater at Home has eight stores in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and the NSW Central Coast, but the shutters went down earlier this month.
Trading ground to a halt amid a dispute with landlords over non-payment of rent, and a creditor was supposed to step in for $4.5 million to put the electronic chain under administration.
A related audiovisual technology company, Roqo, was also placed into administration last Monday.
Theater at Home, which specializes in setting up home cinemas, was placed into administration last week under insolvency firm Nicols + Brien.
Theater at Home CEO Vinod Christie-David is taking legal action to challenge this administration and the legality of assets seized as security for unpaid debts.
A chain of home theater equipment stores has entered receivership after the store’s landlords demanded outstanding rent, triggering a complicated legal dispute.
Theater at Home has eight stores in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and the New South Wales Central Coast.
It has been alleged that Sydney-based private investment company Danwa lent $4.5 million to Theater at Home and a further $2.5 million to Roqo, which is said to have provided equipment to the retailer.
Danny Assabgy, chief executive of secured creditor Danwa, is also the head of Hudson Homes and construction software group Build Buddy.
He is now locked in a legal battle with Christie-David in a complicated dispute over the administration’s action.
“I’m not going to get into a public debate with him on social media; it will be handled through lawyers,” he told WhatsNew2Day Australia.
The dispute has led to the closure of the doors of Life Style Stores, which are also run by CEO Vinod Christie-David but are not included in the administrative order.
Theater at Home CEO Vinod Christie-David (pictured right with his wife Brenda Christie-David) is taking legal action to challenge this administration and the legality of seizing assets as security for unpaid debts.
Assabgy said Theater at Home, founded in 2022, had tried to expand too quickly and was unable to pay his company Danwa, despite getting a loan extension.
The owners had also locked Theater at Home off their premises, and the workers also owed entitlements.
A spokesman for Steven Nicols, manager of Theater at Home and Roqo, said it would be ‘carry out an urgent evaluation of the company’s operations.
Danny Assabgy, chief executive of secured creditor Danwa, is in a legal dispute with Theater at Home, to whom he lent money.
‘“Some of the owners of the various premises had closed access to the two businesses long before our appointment as administrators,” he told WhatsNew2Day Australia.
“We are aware of this effect on employees and depositors and will urgently seek to preserve the value of both companies by offering the companies for sale shortly.”
Theater at Home has stores in Moore Park, Tuggerah, Nunawading, Adelaide, Jindalee, Fortitude Valley and North Parramatta, and a franchised outlet in Castle Hill.
Christie-David had been CEO of Theater at Home since April 2022 and CEO of Life Style Stores since 2001.