Victorian pain as construction company Roberts Co calls in administrators
Administrators have taken control of the Victorian sites controlled by Roberts Co.
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Property tycoon Andrew Roberts has become the latest victim of the construction crunch, calling administrators in to the Victorian arm of his Roberts Co business.
The subsidiary, Roberts Co VIC, appointed McGrathNicol as administrators of the company, and its failure will have repercussions given Roberts Co’s role in projects including an Amazon centre and city buildings.
The construction company swept into Victoria three years ago, picking up the remains of the Probuild empire and bolstering its claim of becoming a top tier building firm.
But the move has ended in acrimony, with the builders’ Victorian arm mired in loss-making projects and its parent company forced to sever ties in order to focus on its own operations in NSW and WA.
The difficulties that Roberts Co is suffering in Victoria come just a few years after Daniel Grollo’s Grocon construction operation collapsed, with both property scions – Mr Roberts is an heir to the Multiplex fortune – coming unstuck in the volatile conditions that bookended the pandemic.
Roberts Co VIC builds under both the Roberts Co and Monaco Hickey names in Victoria, but the other Roberts Co businesses operating outside of the state remain in the control of their directors.
In January, Roberts Co installed ex-Multiplex veterans George Kostas as executive chairman, and Emma Shipley as managing director. Matt Bourne stepped down as chief executive after a period integrating the Victorian business after buying the ProBuild Victoria unit.
The move will hit major projects across Melbourne, as well as the hard-pressed subcontracting industry, as all Roberts Co sites in Victoria are closed immediately.
“Our immediate focus is to stabilise operations and re-open sites, and work closely with the employees and their unions, clients, and subcontractors to secure the best possible outcome for all stakeholders,” McGrathNicol said.
The firm plans to hold a first statutory meeting of creditors on March 26.
Roberts Co VIC directly employs 49 people in Victoria, and another 120 employees in other parts of the company also work on projects in the state.
McGrathNicol is focused on stabilising the projects and attempting to re-open them. The construction firm is building a Melbourne CBD tower for apartment developer Golden Age and a build-to-rent project for Investa that has already topped out.
It had been undertaking other large jobs, including a four-level Amazon distribution centre in Melbourne slated to create 2,000 jobs and become the largest of its kind in Australia.
The project is now controlled by Asian giant ESR and, while claims on the Amazon project have been paid, the parties have been in dispute.
Roberts Co made a $2m profit last year, up from a $9.3m loss in 2023.
Originally published as Victorian pain as construction company Roberts Co calls in administrators
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