Debt blowout: Collapsed builder Privium owes $80m, new figures show

New details show Queensland building giant Privium Group had less than $400 in the bank after it collapsed, leaving 890 unfinished homes and debts in excess of $80m.

Queensland building giant Privium Group had less than $400 in the bank after it collapsed leaving hundreds of unfinished homes and debts in excess of $80m.

Creditors met Monday to discuss the fallout from the collapse that is set to be one of the nation’s biggest building firm failures.

According to documents lodged with ASIC by liquidator FTI Consulting, Privium owes more than $80m, much of it in the form of loans to related entities in the group. The Privium Group – including Privium Assets, Privium Investments and Privium Civil – is owed more than $47m in loans.

Privium founder Rob Harder is a director of several related entities as well as more than 80 other companies. Mr Harder called in voluntary administrators earlier this month with the company leaving hundreds of home owners in the lurch across Queensland, Victoria and NSW.

Creditors heard that excluding intercompany loans, the Privium group of companies owes about $40m including a $23m secured loan to Bank of New York Mellon, about $8m to subcontractors, $8m to suppliers and $1m to various other creditors.

The company had 890 homes around the country that were either under construction or in the preconstruction phase.

Creditors were told various companies in the group performed different roles, with Privium Investments holding sums of money for investment, Privium Assets acting as the treasury for the business and a separate company called Impact Specs owning land.

Rob Harder started life on the tools as a builder’s labourer and carpenter.

Privium, which did not file its financial accounts for the most recent financial year, reported a $28m loss in the 2019-2020 financial year and paid more than $22m in dividends.

FTI Consulting head of corporate restructuring John Park said he was following several lines of inquiry into the group’s collapse, including intercompany loans and dividend payments.

Mr Park said it was too early to comment on the details of the investigation but findings would be shared with ASIC. A second creditors meeting is due on December 22.

Privium’s latest financial accounts also showed the company lent $6.5m in 2019 to a company called Property Alternative Group, of which Mr Harder also is a director. Under that arrangement Property Alternative Group built and sold property to buyers with Privium funding and taking on the risk of development.

The company’s books also revealed it was using Bartercard to help fund operations as it careered towards a collapse raising red flags about its finances months before it called in administrators. The Queensland-based company had $3.4m of Bartercard “currency” at cost on its books as of June last year, which it intended to use to run the company.

Mr Harder, who is a prominent member of Brisbane’s Hillsong church, started his career as a carpenter before building Privium into one of the nation’s biggest construction firms.