VAC Group collapses owing $26m to New York firm Balbec, millions to ATO

A Queensland company which went under just weeks before Christmas owes millions to the ATO and $4.49m to 200 employees. SEE THE CREDITORS LIST.

The gates at the Vac Group's Gracemere site in the days after the administration.

New financial documents for the administration of the VAC Group have revealed the collapsed company owes $26.9 million to a New York private investment firm and millions to the Australian Taxation Office.

The company also owes a further $4.49 million to the 200 staff it made redundant in the weeks before Christmas.

The VAC Group, which operated under a number of company names and specialised in excavation and mapping services, went into voluntary administration in December.

The company had a head office at Yatala with sites at Gladstone, Rockhampton (Gracemere), two sites in Yatala, Moorebank NSW, two sites in Dandenong Victoria, Thomastown, Victoria and sites in South Australia at Wingfield and two in Lonsdale.

A report was filed to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission by the receiver and manager Mark Holland of McGrathNicol on December 23.

Attached to the report is a statement from the Australian Taxation Office which cites an overdue balance of $3,211,582.06, dated October 20, 2022.

The opening balance on July 1, 2022, was $2,363,674.86.

A payment arrangement for owed money to the ATO was agreed on November 3.

The ASIC report included an assets list which spanned a number of pages of vacuum trucks, plants, trailers, tippers, excavators, forklifts, utes and vehicles.

Staff at the Rockhampton site were called into a shock meeting on a Monday morning and were given notice, effective immediately, that the company was going under.

A letter was given to all employees and stated redundancy payments and other money owed would be subject to the priority payments and recovery of assets in the administration.

The new documents lodged just before Christmas state the employees are owed a total of $4,495,822.16.

This is made up of wages of $267,156.27, holiday pay of $1,090,223.65, long service leave at $476, 739.23, superannuation of $258,532.73, redundancy payments totalling $1,685,876.93 and payment in lieu of $717,293.35.

The VAC Group had $224,547.36 in the bank prior to the administration appointment.

The report also states Balbec, a secured creditor, is owed circa $26.9 million, “which is cross collateralised against other related companies of Vac Group.”

Balbec Capital is a global private investment firm with headquarters in New York City and has $14.1 billion in 22 countries.

VAC Group went into administration in 2019 and McGrathNicol was appointed to trade the business and refinance and recapitalise.

This external administration ceased on May 12, 2020.

VAC Group preliminary creditors list:

Cashflow Finance Australia: $2.5 million

Adobe Software: $6,687.82

Alison Audio VIVAX Metrotech: $1,105.51

Almar Industrial Supplies – Totally Workwear: $0.01

Ausco Modular: $43.34

Australian Securities and Investments Commission: $143.00

Australian Trade Printers: $4,381

Australian Wholesale Auto Part: $147.67

Australia Wide First Aid: $125.00

AWM Electrical: $11,482.35

Bearing Service: $773.36

Beenleigh Mufflers and Brakes: $743.49

Browns Plains Printing and Office Supplies: $4620.00

City Circle Recycling: $429.38

Coates Hire: $0.02

Coles: $96.15

Concrete Taxi: $960.00

Edington Agencies: $946.00

FPO Group: $77.56

Barry Gadd: $32.84

G&O Kent: $1,186.90

HiSpec Industrial Australia: $546.54

Hydraulics Network QLD: $220.00

Illion TenderLink: $24,596.63

Lowes Petroleum Service: $31,217.90

Mercury Technology Solutions: $550.00

Mobile Windscreens and Tinting: $8.17

Nut and Bolt Factory QLD: $10.01

Officeworks: $174.24

Pulse Travel: $2,704.00

Queensland Urban Utilities: $928.06

Reece Plumbing: $442.86

RX Plastics: $1,486.72

Southport Bowls Club: $13,600.00

Taylor David Lawyers: $134,640.21

Toyota Fleet Management: $30,865.87

Tyack Kirk: $79.20

Veolia ResourcesCo: $28,353.01

Versus Mirrors: $1,002.73

Vulcan Steel: $1,028.39

West Point Autos: $2.97

Woolworths: $21.35

Amounts unknown:

IGCF IV Australia

Adsteel Brokers

Air Liquide Australia

Ausco Modular

Berwick’s Gold Coast

Buildingpoint Australia

Go Electrical

Hare & Forbes

Hydraulink Australia

Blackwood and Sons

Lacey’s TJM

Laser Central

M & Q Equipment

Northern SEQ Distributor

Ocwen Energy

Pink Plant Hire and Haulage

Retracom Holdings

Strike Fuel

Toyota Finance

United Rentals

Vulcan Steel

Signet

Progressive Green