Haifa District Court Judge Gideon Ginat has granted the petition of Star Ventures Enterprises, Koor Corporate Venture Capital, and Ampal - American Israel Corporation and appointed Adv. Daniel Friedman as temporary liquidator for Camelot Information Technologies.
In their petition for an ex parte appointment of a temporary liquidator, the companies, who were among the investors in Camelot, asserted that Camelot had reached a dead end, and they despaired of the company and its future. They claimed a temporary liquidator would facilitate the seizure and preservation of company assets, and prevent the loss of those assets for Camelot's creditors.
The petitioners further alleged that Camelot's activity was confined to development of its flagship product, an organizational access authorization management program called Hark!. There were no sales of the product, except for negligible sales in the US.
In view of the failure to market the product and the gloomy forecasts, the company had no hope of continuing operations, and notified its remaining 35 employees on Thursday that they would be laid off. This resulted in Bank Leumi announcing it would immediately demand payment of the $1.5 million unpaid balance of its loan.
The investors asserted that Camelot's debts to various creditors, including the employees, Israeli and foreign suppliers, landlords, banks, and loans provided by Star, Koor Corporate Venture Capital, and Ampal amounted to $6 million, while Camelot's assets were estimated at $1.9 million, plus the value of its intellectual property.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on February 18, 2002