Sydney company in construction industry collapses owing $7m

Staff learned they were losing their jobs over a Zoom call while creditors are owed millions of dollars.

EXCLUSIVE

More than a dozen staff learned at a work Zoom meeting last Tuesday that they no longer had jobs and the business had ceased trading.

“Everyone was terminated on the spot. We were told that there was no more,” one employee, Jimmy*, who did not wish to share his real name, told news.com.au.

Two days later, on Thursday, the company in question, NSW-based Main Facilities Pty Ltd, went into voluntary administration, news.com.au can reveal.

Main Facilities, which traded under the name Main Industries, was headquartered in Sydney and worked in the construction space as a trade service provider.

The company’s main client was the state government, which contracted them for various project work such as upgrading school and courthouse infrastructure.

Creditors are owed more than $7 million in the wake of the company’s collapse, according to a preliminary report to creditors compiled by the appointed administrator, Mohammad Najjar of restructuring firm Vanguard Insolvency.

The sole director of Main Facilities, George Bancs, said the business had to shut down as the state government had abruptly ended contracts with them but a spokesperson for the Minns government said this was not the case.

Rubbing salt in the wound is that some staff have been left thousands of dollars out of pocket including from unpaid superannuation while their boss, Mr Bancs, drove to work in a McLaren and also wore designer brand clothing like Fendi, and sported a Rolex wristwatch.

“Anything I wear personally is mine personally, not the property of the company,” Mr Bancs told news.com.au in response.

George Bancs is the sole director of the collapsed firm and is known to drive a McLaren and sport Rolex wristwatches.

Main Facilities owes eight secured creditors $1.7 million.

Fifteen staff members are owed $262,000 with the director, Mr Bancs, owed the most out of the staff.

A further 37 unsecured creditors are owed $5.1 million.

The total amount owed comes in at just over $7 million.

Mr Najjar, the administrator, told news.com.au the Australian Taxation Office is the largest creditor, owed $2.4 million.

“It was trading on a really scaled back basis because of no work,” Mr Najjar said.

“We’ve been advised there’s very minimal job projects.”

The first creditor meeting is taking place next Monday, on March 25.

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Main Facilities was a government contractor.

Former employee Jimmy claimed that several staff were set to be let go in February, but instead they were kept on until everyone was made redundant last week.

Subcontractors “would ring up all the time” asking for their debts to be paid, according to him.

In the wake of the collapse of Main Facilities, Jimmy went and checked his superannuation – and learned that nothing had been paid since last year.

“We missed super last quarter,” Mr Bancs said.

The company director plans to put forward a deed of company arrangement – or a DOCA – to take the company back under his control, where a portion of the debt will be paid off.

Staff were treated to a dinner at a Merivale restaurant in Manly right before Christmas. Mr Bancs said he paid for this personally from his credit card and did not use company money.

Mr Bancs said he sold a personal property and poured $700,000 into the business to keep it afloat.

The director has made no secret of his wealth, speaking to The Australian Financial Review last year spruiking two of his tech companies and the fact he drives a McLaren – which he previously stated cost $580,000 before making improvements to it.

This car has its own personalised number plate with the name of one of the tech companies he runs, called WWEEEVV.

“As a director, when a business is doing well, you have to look at all alternatives for successful investments,” he explained to news.com.au.

“I felt that the tech sector is one that’s important.”

Main Industries ceased trading last week.

Mr Bancs has blamed his company’s woes on the NSW government, a claim which a government spokesperson has flatly denied.

The building boss claimed that when the new state government came into power last year, his business and others like it “suffered” because their pipeline of government project related work dried up overnight.

“Once the Labor government came in they put a freeze on spending,” he lamented. “They’ve hung us out to dry.”

No such freeze is in place, according to the state government, pointing to the most recent state budget which lists more than 100 public schools receiving upgrades to their buildings.

Mr Bancs said he had received $10 million in work orders from the Department of Education and a further $2 million from the Department of Communities and Justice, for school and courthouse upgrades respectively.

But this work was then withdrawn, he said, as he was informed there wasn’t enough of a budget to follow through.

A NSW government spokesperson said the claim that maintenance spending had stopped “is false”.

“The company (Main Facilities) has recently received contracts for maintenance work at several NSW public schools,” the spokesperson added.

“The firm also recently completed roofing upgrades at Hornsby and Wollongong courts.”

The administrator said he is yet to verify the cause of the company’s failure.

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Originally published as Sydney company in construction industry collapses owing $7m