Race against time to secure much-needed funding

THE deadline is fast-approaching for a major housing developer to secure a last-minute funding lifeline, with thousands of buyers left in the lurch.

Insolvency advisory Teneo is scrambling to secure, within 24 hours, a $20 million short-term funding package for the embattled Bathla Group.

One of Sydney’s largest residential developers, Bathla announced it had entered voluntary administration in late August, owing a reported $3.3 billion.

The news left countless home buyers and creditors wondering what it meant for their investments, with staff uncertain whether they would lose their jobs.

Payroll for the developer’s roughly 350 staff – some of whom have worked for several weeks without pay – will fall due on Thursday, leaving Teneo as the voluntary administrator liable for the outlay. 

It is understood administrators are continuing to constructively negotiate with Bathla’s lenders to organise a cash injection to keep the group operational.

A $20 million one-month runway would allow administrators to pursue longer-term funding and progress the group’s 45 projects under construction.

Should they fail to secure a lifeline by Thursday, the home developer is expected to be wound up after the NSW government declined to bail it out.

According to Bathla’s website, the group has 20,000 apartments and 7000 dwellings in its delivery pipeline, added to the scores of projects under construction, centred mainly in Sydney’s northwest.

The projects comprise a significant share of the NSW government’s target of 75,400 new homes per year for five years until 2029. 

Some homebuyers who bought off-the-plan have been left in the dark, uncertain when, or if, their properties will be completed, while contractors have been left scrambling to recoup debts. 

Sydney lawyer Tony Taouk said he represented two NSW construction industry clients owed as much as $400,000 by the developer. 

Despite carrying months-old debts, he said his clients had been surprised by Bathla’s move into voluntary administration given its size and stature. 

“Sometimes developers are slow to pay their debts,” he said.  “It came as a shock.”

Funded by a range of private lenders, Bathla’s collapse has also sent shock waves through the private credit market. 

Some lenders have called in receivers to take control of certain sites while others have taken steps to assure investors they are not overly exposed. 

Australian Securities and Investment Commission chair Sarah Court described the situation as private credit’s “first real test” at a Committee for Economic Development of Australia event in Sydney in August.

Founded in NSW in 1997, Bathla joins a long list of Australian home developers which have recently entered voluntary administration or liquidation.

Founder Bhart Bhushan described the move as an “orderly restructure” and cited a range of circumstances, including tax changes in the May federal budget and falling buyer confidence.

Football club Western Sydney Wanderers announced on Tuesday it would stop selling jerseys displaying Bathla branding after ending its partnership with the company.

“Protecting the reputation and integrity of the Wanderers brand outweighs the financial cost of this decision,” the club said.