Creditors tell directors of builder Coombs Barei to sell their share in Adelaide United to help pay back their debts

UPDATE: Insolvency firm DuncanPowell have this morning survived a bid to have them removed as creditors of embattled building company Coombs Barei.

Contek managing director Paul Apostolakos, who is owed $144,000 by Coombs Barei, says the directors should sell their stake in Adelaide United to repay their debts. Picture: AAP/James Elsby

THE insolvency firm investigating the failure of builder Coombs Barei has survived a bid to have it removed as administrators and replaced with the company that helped rescue Spring Gully.

Lawyer Greg Griffin, acting as a proxy for two creditors owed $230,000 by the Hindmarsh builder made the bid at a creditor’s meeting today at which creditors heard the company owed $6.5 million the majority to contractors and suppliers.

Mr Griffin, who is also majority shareholder in Adelaide United had sought to install Austin Taylor of Meertens as administrators because of his “experience in the forensic area”, he told The Advertiser after the two hour meeting at the Ibis Adelaide on Grenfell St.

Mr Griffin said the motion was defeated 18 votes to 34, which included 11 votes of creditors related to Coombs Barei, which would include directors and shareholders Tony Basile, George Charalabidis and Bruno Marveggio.

The trio are minority shareholders in Adelaide United - through separate company MCBH Property Group.

Mr Griffin in April had publicly declared he wanted Mr Marveggio out of the club following reports in The Advertiser that his joinery firm Wunda Projects had not paid superannuation.

The debt has since been paid.

Mr Griffin said today the attempt to remove administrators of Coombs Barei was not driven by an agenda against Mr Marveggio or his business colleagues.

“Most of the big litigation I have been involved in in some way, I’m a litigation lawyer that’s what it is,” he said.

He said a fresh attempt to remove administrators would be made at a second creditors' meeting.

Mr Basile, Mr Charalabidis and Mr Marveggio did not attend today’s meeting.

Coombs Barei was placed in voluntary administration last month with the loss of nine jobs.

Publicly available company financials, lodged with ASIC yesterday, also reveal the Holden St builder owes $264,000 in wages and unpaid superannuation and has realisable assets of just over $300,000.

The company has reported it is owed $2.16 million for completed work - of which it estimates it will recoup $205,553 - and had $922,102 of work in progress at the time of entering administration.

Mr Basile and Mr Charalabidis last month blamed the closure of their company in part on “ongoing media speculation” which had “stretched relationships with our customers and subcontractors such that continuing became untenable.”

The pair and company shareholder and former direcctor Bruno Marveggio own a 25 per cent share in Adelaide United through a separate company MCBH Property Group.

Concreter Paul Apostolakos, who is owed $144,000 for work his company Contek did in September and October, said the trio should sell their shares in the club to pay him.

“They had no intention of paying me, they should sell whatever they have to pay me,” he said.

“There should be no separation between their personal assets and business assets.”

Matt Curyer, director of Port Adelaide based Master Ceilings, agreed that the United shares should be sold to recoup funds including the $64,000 owed to his firm for work completed a year ago.

“(Proceeds) should be paid to the contractors that are owed money,” he said.

Mr Griffin would not disclose what offer if any he made to Mr Marveggio for his shares in United.

“There were discussions about a possible sale of the shares but that did not eventuate,” he said.

Coombs Barei’s solicitor Stephen Williams of NormanWaterhouse said his clients would not comment about a potential share sale.

Administrators Peter Lanthois of DuncanPowell also declined to answer if the sale of Adelaide United holdings had been discussed with Coombs Barei.