Hoppa Group operating from same address as failed Resorthoppa

Hoppa Group confirmed last week it is operating from the same address in Woking as failed forerunner Resorthoppa which went into administration in March owing £8.25 million.

Hoppa, set up in February as a Special Purchase Vehicle by California-registered transfer technology platform Elife Tech, bought the assets – including a licence to occupy the premises of transfer company Resorthoppa – in a pre-packed administration negotiated prior to the appointment of administrators and effected upon going into administration.

Resorthoppa directors Renaldo Scheepers and Matthew Hall transferred to Hoppa with other employees.

More: Analysis: Resorthoppa brought low by liquidation of Lowcost Travel Group

Transfer booking provider Resorthoppa goes into administration

There is no suggestion of impropriety. Administrators acting for KR8 Advisory who handled the sale met all the requirements for transparency.

But the amounts owed by Resorthoppa and its pre-pack administration have led a group of unsecured creditors to consider joint legal action (Travel Weekly, April 17).

The company had only recently emerged from a three-year corporate voluntary arrangement (CVA) which allowed it to continue trading while it repaid £3.28 million to creditors through a court-ordered process overseen by other administrators.

Despite these repayments, the administrators’ statement of proposals when Resorthoppa ceased trading warned there are unlikely to be funds to pay preferential creditors or even the full costs of administration, let alone the unsecured creditors.

They reported a pre-pack administration “was considered the only option” at the time, and that aside from the transfer of directors “there is no connection between the purchaser and directors, shareholders or secured creditors of the insolvent company”.

The administrators noted: “The benefits of a pre-packaged sale were the transfer of employees and potentially the lease on the trading premises and absence of a break in supply of goods and services. It was considered the only option.”

The Insolvency Practitioners Association notes pre-packed administrations have benefits but attract “high-level interest” and can lead unsecured creditors to “feel disenfranchised and suspicious of the procedure”.

Hoppa parent Elife Tech did not respond to a request for comment.