abc.net.au/news/queensland-biotech-company-xing-technologies-insolvent/102839156Curing cancers using genetic sequencing, rapid tests for livestock diseases, a near infallible COVID-19 test, more refined medicinal marijuana — Xing Technologies promised so much.
Business identities invested, including the founder of Herron Pharmaceutical Euan Murdoch, Mancorp Homes building company owner Mark Forster and retired pharmacist and former federal minister John Hodges. "It could be a real game-changer,'' Queensland's then Innovation Minister Kate Jones said when announcing the funding in 2020.
Services offered included cancer care, rapid nucleic acid extraction, protein detection diagnostics and "nanoparticle capture agents to identify and prevent the spread of infectious diseases,'' Mr Karageozis's report states. Within four months an administrator was appointed to Xing Holdings Group by a secured party - a company that had Mr Forster as a director.Smaller shareholders were baffled. Many contacted by the ABC say they had no warning Xing was in trouble and have been left asking how a $200 million company could fail so quickly.
When he was appointed, Mr Karageozis said he was aware of claims against the company for $448,183 that appear to have occurred after the company allegedly became insolvent. He wrote that "during the time period in question the board undertook due diligence, debt restricting and safe harbour enactment".'I know nothing about the finances'
Mr Esplin said the liquidator might not have considered the expected Research and Development tax rebate which was "guaranteed by the government" and would have brought in between $1.5 and $1.75 million.Businesswoman Carrie Hillyard who was a director from November 2020 to October 2021 said she resigned as a director "long before" the company went into administration.She said: "We were also in discussion with potential investors and had invoked safe harbour".
The email obtained by the ABC said the company's shares were valued at $10.20 a share and had been selling for $7 each.The interstate investor said they had invested about $100,000 paying $1.50 a share in the company shortly after it started and believed they had now lost the lot. "[The inventions] often end up being sold to overseas companies to make the investment to fully develop and commercialise the technology or go, as appears to be the case with Xing Technologies, into liquidation,'' he said.