Comlek speaks out as TEAM Group directors propose draft DOCA

The directors of a Mackay mining and engineering business are scrambling to survive and the livelihoods of 20 people are on the line.

Mackay mining service and engineering business TEAM Group has entered voluntary administration. Picture: Zoe Devenport

The directors of Mackay mining service and engineering business TEAM Group are working furiously to save the company after placing it into voluntary administration.

But one of the firm’s largest creditors has bluntly spoken out about what he wants to happen now.

“I want my $1.6m,” Comlek director Michael Donaldson said following TEAM’s first meeting with creditors on April 17.

“That is what I want.

“I don’t want to see anybody fall over, no company at all.

Comlek Group managing director Michael Donaldson. Picture: Contributed

“But I just want to be paid what is rightfully ours, that we have worked for.”

It is understood disputes around legacy claims is what sunk TEAM and pushed it towards insolvency.

Appointed administrator, Deloitte’s Richard Hughes, said he was confident a successful restructure of the business could be achieved.

“We are still reasonably confident that will be the case,” he said.

“The business is still delivering against contracts, all the employees are still there.

“It is pretty much business as usual.

Mackay mining service and engineering business TEAM Group has entered voluntary administration. Picture: Zoe Devenport

“Our initial assessment is that the underlying business is probably profitable but the legacy claims were pushing it towards insolvency,” he said.

A full list of creditors is expected to be filed with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission within 10 days of the April 17 meeting.

Mr Hughes, who previously worked on the mammoth Virgin Airlines restructure, said TEAM’s directors had put together a draft deed of company arrangement and he was now in the process of assessing it.

A DOCA outlines how a business could move forward past administration, presenting creditors with a new structure to maximise the chances of survival.

Administrators provide a recommendation to creditors on whether or not to accept the proposal.

(From left to right) John Greig, Richard Hughes and Sal Algeri from Deloitte Australia were three of the four Voluntary Administrators of Virgin Australia. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

“We have not made that assessment yet,” Mr Hughes said.

Comlek itself went into administration in December last year after it was hit with a $9.4m tax bill from the Queensland Revenue Office for unpaid payroll tax going back to 2010.

The company emerged from administration in January with a new debt repayment plan and continues to trade.

TEAM Group’s travails follow a surge of insolvencies across Queensland.

ASIC recorded 104 administrations and liquidations in March, up 21 per cent from the 86 recorded in the same month last year.