Lenders chase pub baron Jon Adgemis for millions over property flop
Angas Securities is pursuing Jon Adgemis for personal guarantees tied to his property empire, in a move which risks spreading the crisis to his other assets.
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Pub baron Jon Adgemis is facing down another lender, with Adelaide-based financier Angas Securities seeking to enforce a personal guarantee on the Sydney property player over a loan-gone-bad on a Bondi apartment building.
Angas Securities is seeking to recoup millions of dollars owing on a $25m Bondi beachfront building, once intended to form the luxury suites wing of the pub baron’s redevelopment of his massive Noah’s Backpackers project.
Mr Adgemis snapped up Noah’s Backpackers in June 2022 in a $68m deal.
In papers filed in the NSW Supreme Court, Angas Securities is seeking to enforce a personal guarantee provided by Mr Adgemis over the six-apartment building, with an adverse decision potentially imperilling the other assets of the former KPMG dealmaker.
Angas Securities, one of a suite of non-bank lenders on Mr Adgemis’ sprawling pub empire, took possession of the building in April this year amid a dispute with the baron over a debt rescue deal.
Lenders Deutsche Bank had proposed to refinance the building as part of a $400m debt deal across Mr Adgemis’ pub empire.
However, Angas Securities rejected the deal, which would have required the lender to take a haircut on the debt which matured in December 2023.
Sources said Mr Adgemis had paid the loan, which industry sources said sat north of $13.5m, however he later fell short on repayments.
A further $3m in a second mortgage from a separate lender is also attached to the building.
Angas Securities is seeking Mr Adgemis to pay its debts and costs on the property, including a hefty outstanding land tax and council rates bill, which the lender has been seeking to sell since seizing it.
Industry sources said Angas Securities has been unable to sell the building, which consists of six apartments and a further two retail outlets on the ground floor, despite months on the market.
Forbes agent Ken Jacobs has been running the sales campaign.
Sources said Angas Securities had moved to enforce Mr Adgemis’ personal guarantees on the property in the wake of the troubled sales campaign, filing the court claims against the pub baron in July.
Sources said Angas Securities may make an application for summary judgement in its case against Mr Adgemis, who has failed to file a defence in the matter.
The NSW Supreme Court ordered Mr Adgemis to file a defence by October 14, however the court has rejected requests to release documents in the matter as pleadings are yet to close.
The matter will next be heard on November 25.
A spokesman for Mr Adgemis declined to comment.
The latest court action with Mr Adgemis comes in the wake of an earlier attempt by his former business partner Peter Crinis to take action against the pub baron over an $800,000 debt.
Other lenders across his pub group have also skirmished with Mr Adgemis, with New York financiers Muzinich seized five assets in September after a dispute over a $100m debt.
At its peak, Mr Adgemis’ group of “off-Broadway” pubs represented 22 separate venues across Sydney, Melbourne, and regional NSW.
However, the group has since disintegrated amid disputes with lenders and business partners amid unpaid bills and debt defaults.
A recent administrators report, for the five assets seized by Muzinich, warned the group allegedly traded insolvent for years, warning Mr Adgemis faced a $24m insolvent trading claim. He disputes this allegation and is seeking to have administrators issue a new report to creditors.
Another of his assets was sold over the weekend, with a boarding house in the inner Sydney suburb of Annandale sold at a small loss.
The rundown 14 room facility behind the famed Empire Hotel was picked up in better times by the pub baron, whose empire has now been partly seized by his lenders.
The property was bought two years ago for about $3.92m and was financed by Gleneagle Securities and Gemi, both of which banked much of the sales price.
It was taken to auction and passed in at $3.6m before being later sold to a local family.
Originally published as Lenders chase pub baron Jon Adgemis for millions over property flop
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