For the third time in seven months Dunedin specialist bedding manufacturer Ellis Fibre is being taken to court over a debt, propelled there by threats of liquidation.
The previous claimants were the Inland Revenue Department, in December last year, and an offshore textile supplier, understood to be a Pakistani company, both of which Ellis Fibre has settled with.
This week PJ Digital Ltd, of Otago, advertised it had made an application to the High Court to have 20-year-old Ellis Fibre placed in liquidation, which is scheduled to be heard in Dunedin on March 7.
However, Ellis Fibre director and shareholder Glenn Alexander said yesterday he was in "amicable talks" with a "key supplier" over a debt of about $32,000.
What had been in dispute was the amount of the debt, he said.
He expected the issue to be resolved "long before it goes to court" and the debt settled.
Mr Alexander told the ODT in July last year the first debt to Pakistani company Amalgamated Textiles was "around" $10,000, while the settled December debt to the IRD was "less than $50,000".
Ellis' factory in Kaikorai Valley makes duvets, underlays, pillows and pet beds, some of which include blended alpaca and lamb's wool.
Ellis Fibre was incorporated in 1999, with Glenn and John Alexander as directors.
Cook Allan Gibson Trustee Company Ltd, acting as the independent trustee of a family trust, is a 78% shareholder.
