Elton John concert safe as Phil Rankine’s promotion empire falls into hands of administrators

Once Adelaide’s most prominent concert promoter, Phil Rankine’s business empire is now in dire straits, with the management of a number of his companies placed in other hands.

• Phil Rankine’s debt woes first emerge in Off The Record
• Consortium pursues Rankine for $4 million
• $1.1 million debt battle lost by concert promoter
• Botanic Gardens launch action against Rankine company

The delivery of the two Adelaide Elton John concerts, and who manages them, is now a matter of debate, following the multimillion-dollar collapse of concert promoter Phil Rankine’s business empire.

Mr Rankine this week appointed voluntary administrators to four companies: Space Touring, Space Production Company, Space Entertainment and Space Events.

Following that, the Federal Court yesterday terminated the administration of Space Touring, which is being pursued for $1.1 million by Duxton Entertainment, and made orders that it “be wound up in insolvency”.

A creditors’ meeting will be held for the other three companies at 10am on Friday, August 16, at the Rydges Adelaide on South Tce.

The Elton John concerts are not in doubt, with The Advertiser previously contacting Chugg Entertainment, which is running the shows on the east coast. Chugg said it would step in and run the shows, however the administrator of Mr Rankine’s businesses might seek to do so, in a bid to salvage a better return for creditors.

Mr Rankine was Adelaide’s most prominent concert promoter, bringing acts such as The Prodigy, Florence + The Machine, Supertramp, and Phil Collins to Adelaide in recent times.

His financial woes emerged in May, with Space Touring asking the Federal Court to set aside a “creditor’s statutory demand for debt” served on his company by Duxton on March 19.

Duxton Entertainment is part of a consortium of companies headed up by international commodities trader, and owner of the Uraidla and Crafers Hotels, Ed Peter.

The Duxton case was lost in June, giving Mr Rankine 21 days to come up with the money or face Duxton potentially applying to wind up the company.

But it was not the only issue the Space group was contending with. A consortium of international investors, including Stelling Events, which is headed up by Jim Frayling, former head of Music and Events at Wembley Stadium in London, was pursuing Space Production for almost $4 million.

And the Botanic Gardens of South Australia joined the fray last month, lodging a winding up application against Space Events for a quantum of debt which is currently unclear.

Mr Rankine has held a number of events in the Botanic Gardens, including Florence + The Machine and Bon Jovi this year.

The total amount of money owed to creditors by all of Mr Rankine’s companies, and how much, if anything, they stand to recover from the administration process, is not clear at the moment.

Administrator Joe Hayes of Wexted Advisors told The Advertiser that creditors were unlikely to get a clear picture of the debt position by next week’s creditors’ meeting, where they would vote on whether to continue with Wexted as the administrator, as the process demands under Australian law.

Mr Hayes said “considerable reconciliation work needed to be done” to establish the claims against various entities, “but the principal focus at the moment was ensuring assets were preserved, in particular the ability to undertake the (Elton John) concerts without disruption’’.

An “urgent” appraisal of the assets and liabilities of the entities was now being done.

“The overriding objective of the administrators is to work collaboratively with all the major stakeholders with a view to ensuring that the scheduled Elton John concerts go ahead as planned with no disruption,’’ he said.

Elton John’s Adelaide concerts are to be held in Botanic Park on December 4 and 5.

In the largest claim against Mr Rankine’s companies, a consortium of eight investors has alleged in Supreme Court documents that he personally owes them $3.975 million, which was put up to finance this year’s Florence + The Machine and Phil Collins concerts.

The investment consortium in the Supreme Court matter says in its statement of claim that Mr Rankine’s company Space Production was the promoter of the Florence and Phil Collins concerts, and agreements were entered into to fund the two events.

The investors say Mr Rankine also provided, through Production, a “personal guarantee”, meaning he would be personally liable for any debts incurred.

It is stated that the investors and Mr Rankine were to share in any profits, or losses, but it appears from court documents that the investors have not been paid back either the $3.975 million advanced, or any profit share.

Mr Rankine, in his statement of defence, denies he ever gave personal guarantees and said Space Production was not involved with running events.

“At all material times Production operated solely as a company which accepted funds from investors resident outside of Australia, but did not act as the contracting party to the concert performers,’’ the defence says.

It goes on to say that the “contracting party” for both concerts was Mr Rankine’s other company, Space Events.

“The defendant denies that the plaintiffs, or any of them, are entitled to any relief or orders whatsoever against the defendant.’’

The Florence + The Machine concert was held in Botanic Park on January 16 this year, and Phil Collins at Adelaide Oval on January 24.

That case remains on foot, as far as The Advertiser is aware.

Meanwhile Mr Frayling told the Sunday Mail last month that he still wants to keep Adelaide on the touring radar.

Mr Frayling has launched a new touring company called Like This, which has teamed up with AEG to bring country megastar Tim McGraw to Botanic Park, and he says he very much believes in the parklands venue.

“We’re new of the scene in terms of Like This, but we’ve been involved in concerts in Adelaide going back to 2017,” Mr Frayling said from London.

“We believe in Adelaide, and we believe in Botanic Park, and we’re putting our money where our mouth is and saying let’s have a crack.”

The Duxton claim, for $1.1 million, is similar to the consortium’s claim, in that it alleges money put up to finance two concerts has not been returned.

Duxton says it put up $727,500 for Prodigy, and $397,500 for Supertramp, with profits and losses to be shared between it and Mr Rankine’s company Space Touring.

In the judgment in that case, it was found that Mr Rankine had made a personal guarantee with respect to the debts, which was clear in the investor agreements.

The existence of personal guarantee means that a businessperson can be pursued personally for debts, rather than that action being confined to the business entity which accrues them.

The Advertiser has tried on numerous occasions to contact Mr Rankine, with no success.

He remains a director of companies not in administration including Space Music and Space Concerts.

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