The receivers of Botry-Zen are to offer the Dunedin biotechnology company for sale as a going concern.
Advertisements for the business will be placed in newspapers over the coming weeks, but in the meantime it will continue to trade as normal.
It was the receivers' intention to continue trading with a view to selling the business as a going concern, said one of the receivers, Matthew Taylor, of WHK, in Dunedin.
This was potentially good news for the company's 10 staff, the future of its Dunedin factory and a boost to grape growers who use the company's BOTRY-Zen and ARMOUR-Zen products to protect against the grape-wasting fungi, botrytis cinerea.
The production season for BOTRY-Zen has ended but has just started for the late-season acting ARMOUR-Zen.
Mr Taylor said there had already been some interest expressed from potential buyers, but he advised little should be read into that.
On Wednesday, Botry-Zen directors called in receivers after shareholders refused to inject capital for the second time in 15 months, frustrated at having poured $12 million in since the company was formed in 2001 and not seeing a return.
In its latest request for capital, directors of the publicly listed company sought $1.5 million.
Had they achieved that, a cornerstone shareholder had committed to provide an extra $500,000.
Mr Taylor said he and a joint receiver were still determining the level of outstanding debt and on Wednesday sent letters to debtors to determine that amount.
As at the last end-of-year balance date, the amount of secured and unsecured debt was about $2 million and the business had a market capitalisation of just over $3 million.
Meanwhile, the collapse of Botry-Zen has sent shock waves through other Dunedin biotechnology companies.
Pacific Edge Biotechnology (Pebl) chief executive David Darling described it as unfortunate, adding the key for publicly listed companies was to retain a strong and committed base of shareholders who who had faith and belief in the company's product.
Some biotechnology companies had struggled to retain that faith, because they had soaked up new capital and not returned a profit, he said.
Biotechnology had been seen as a potentially prosperous new industry for the South, but Mr Darling said while Pebl started out as a biotechnology company, it had become a medical technology or medical device company developing diagnostic tools for detecting cancer.
As a result it faced lower regulatory hurdles to access markets than companies selling therapeutic products, which meant it had quicker access to markets which helped with cash flow.
