[James Smith]

Just to go back up to the top on this one. I should point out before I start I am NOT an insolvency practitioner which is a regulated area so this isn’t something I deal with on a day to day basis, but very broadly there two main ways a company can be closed "striking off" and "winding up". The former is a lot more common than the later - the former is often essentially voluntary (although it can be started for instance by companies house if you don't file everything in time – so do check they haven’t simply failed to file their annual return – you can see this on companies house) in that it’s normally what happens to a small company if the directors simply decide to shut up shop as its cheap and (relatively) quick. Winding up can also be voluntary, but it is more common when in the scenario where a company can’t pay all its creditors and is forced (or sometime steps to avoid being pushed!) into liquidation this is where the insolvency practitioners come in and us everyday beancounters end their involvement I am afraid.

In terms of what happens to the assets - well the directors will generally sell all the assets to either third parties, or often back to themselves, so your first port call will be the directors of the company....

Hope that helps

Regards,