activities upon being appointed by the Supreme Court, writes Henry Adderley .

Deloitte and Touche partners Paul Hubbard and Mark Smith promptly launched a review of Staple Holdings' available financial information but found a number of inadequacies which forced them to recreate its financial records. They then concluded that the only asset of any value was Atlantic Medical International Limited (AMI) which they set out to sell straight away.

AMI was incorporated to supply medical products to the Bermuda market, principally to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

"The joint provisional liquidators' initial efforts were centred on finding a buyer as quickly as possible to avoid a decline in its value to any buyer arising from the uncertainties of the liquidation process,'' the report stated.

The liquidators reviewed and evaluated a valuation of AMI Limited which was obtained for Staples Holdings in March, 1999, and performed their own valuation which led them to seek an offer in the region of $230,000.

AMI's specialist nature meant there were only three potential buyers in Bermuda and each were approached. Of these, only Staples Limited's parent company PJW Limited made a matching offer.