Former Adelaide United owner Bruno Marveggio to pitch repayment plan to creditors

Creditors of a failed building company overseen by former Adelaide United owner Bruno Marveggio will meet in the coming weeks to vote on his last ditch bid to avoid bankruptcy.

Bruno Marveggio is making a last ditch bid to avoid bankruptcy. Pic: Dave Cronin

• Bruno Marveggio in last-ditch effort to avoid bankruptcy
• Former United owner faces potential bankruptcy over unpaid taxes
• Marveggio takes Federal Court stand over Coombs Barei collapse

Creditors of a failed building company overseen by former Adelaide United owner Bruno Marveggio will meet in the coming weeks to vote on his last-ditch bid to avoid bankruptcy.

A trustee, who has taken control of Mr Marveggio’s assets, will examine his repayment proposal — known as a personal insolvency agreement — before making a recommendation to creditors.

A personal insolvency agreement requires the approval of at least 75 per cent of creditors, who will meet in the coming weeks to vote on the plan.

Unlike bankruptcy, a personal insolvency agreement would allow Mr Marveggio to keep his home, travel overseas without restriction, buy assets and borrow money more freely and avoid the stigma associated with bankruptcy.

However, Mr Marveggio would be prevented from being a director or being involved in the management of a company throughout the duration of the agreement.

The proposal follows failed negotiations between Mr Marveggio and the Australian Tax Office over debts totalling more than $525,000.

The ATO issued a bankruptcy notice against Mr Marveggio in September, based on a District Court judgment which found he breached his duty as a director of W.P.A. Nominees — formerly trading as Wunda Projects Australia Partnership.

It found he had failed to make a number of company tax and superannuation payments from July 2014 to June 2016, while he was a director of the company, before it went into liquidation in February last year with debts of $5.3 million.

The company partnered with related construction business Wunda Projects Australia to undertake building projects across South Australia, Victoria and Queensland, including at Melbourne’s Crown Casino, the new Royal Adelaide Hospital and Jupiter’s Casino on the Gold Coast.

Wunda Projects Australia fell into liquidation in March last year with debts of $4.2 million.

Mr Marveggio’s former business partner George Charalabidis was sole director of both companies in the lead-up to their collapse, after Mr Marveggio stepped down as a director of both companies in October 2016.

He is sole shareholder in Wunda Projects and is a joint shareholder in W.P.A. Nominees.

In November, Mr Marveggio appeared in the Federal Court, where he denied having an ongoing role in another building company, Coombs Barei Constructions, after stepping down as a director in November 2015.

He remained a shareholder in that company in the lead-up to its collapse in October 2017.

The bankruptcy matter is due back in the Federal Circuit Court on May 14.