The administrators of embattled property developer Bathla Group have said the company will fold by the end of the week unless they can secure additional funding to keep it afloat. The insolvency advisory Teneo assumed control of Bathla’s operations on 25 August after the Sydney-based construction company went into voluntary administration. Thousands of customers have been left in the lurch, many of whom have partially built homes.
Teneo’s senior managing director, Stephen Longley, on Monday said some of Bathla’s 350 head office staff had not been paid for eight weeks. We don’t have any cash to pay wages. We don’t have any cash to pay suppliers,” he said.
He flagged potential redundancies should Bathla survive the week, with Teneo doing a review of its 350 staff “to work out which ones are mission critical”. In a notice announcing its decision to go into administration, Bathla said Teneo’s immediate priority was to “stabilise” its operations and work with lenders to support employees and the continued delivery of projects. Teneo said it was not in a position to refund deposits that hopeful homebuyers had paid to Bathla, which according to its website has 20,000 apartments and 7,000 dwellings in the pipeline.
Longley said the administrators would prioritise Bathla’s 45 projects that were already under construction, which were expected to result in between 2,000 and 2,500 new homes. Teneo was working to secure the backing of other lenders after the New South Wales government rejected its request for a financial lifeline. Longley said Teneo would be able to provide an update on Bathla’s future after a meeting with the potential creditors on Friday.
I’m hopeful that in the next couple of days we’ll get there.”
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