Australian search marketing provider Adlux has collapsed with debts of more than $3.5 million.

The company, which formed in 2009 and had a presence in the US, South America and Asia, offered services including display ad placement, search solutions as well as customised toolbars for websites. Joubert Insolvency has been appointed as the liquidator.

Among the creditors is online travel wholesaler Excite Holidays, whose joint founder George Papaioannou is a major shareholder and founder of Adlux, according to Excite’s website.

Excite’s other co-founder, Nicholas Stavropoulos was the chief executive of Adlux from August 2009 to June this year.

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According to a list of creditors, Excite is owed $842,735. The largest creditor is a company called GNE Services Trust which operates out of the same Bondi Junction office suite as Excite and is owed $1.2 million.

Two other firms at the same address – Gen Y Pty and GNE Racing – are owed $154,072 and $7,160 respectively.

Other creditors named in documents include Kinected which is owed $788,553, US-based Nami Media which is owed almost $400,000 while the Australian Tax Office is due an “unknown” amount by Adlux.

Directors of Adlux declined to comment on the insolvency, and questions around the list of creditors, whilst Randall Joubert had not returned calls at the time of publication.

Adlux says on its website that the company provides “sophisticated and intelligent advertising solutions” through the Adlux Search Network and Adlux Media Network. It promises “innovative, effective advertising solutions and a source of PPC online advertising products to advertisers and agencies throughout Australasia, North America, Latin America and Europe.

In January the company announced it was powering the Coles website search bar, with Stavropoulos saying at the time the company was Australia’s “number one search network”.

In the release he said: “Big name Australian brands, such as Coles, are dealing with us because of our premium client base, the premium services we provide, and the premium advertisers we work with.

“Whilst this is great news for Coles, the real winners in this deal are Adlux’s existing clients. They are set to benefit directly from increased levels of high quality search traffic boosting the effectiveness and performance of their campaigns. We already offer significant reach and this partnership will help drive those results even further.”

Steve Jones

Disclosure: Mumbrella is listed as a creditor of Adlux.