Melbourne businessman’s last ditch effort to save building company Porter Davis rejected

Hopes of a last minute lifeline to save a major building company that went into liquidation have been thwarted after a wealthy businessman’s offer was rejected.

A Melbourne businessman’s last-minute lifeline to keep a failing construction business going, promising to save 800 workers by buying the company, has failed.

Businessman Amit Miglani on Monday revealed he had submitted a bid to purchase Porter Davis, which went into shock liquidation last month.

Porter Davis, known for its house and land packages, went into liquidation in March, as Grant Thornton was appointed to 14 companies under the Melbourne-based group.

But a Grant Thornton spokesperson said the offer had been rejected.

“While we have no reason to doubt Mr Miglani’s intention, we do not believe this is a credible offer to acquire the Porter Davis Group,” the liquidators said in a statement.

“Mr Migliani has not undertaken any due diligence and is unable to complete a transaction in an expedited timeframe which is a key requirement of the liquidators.”

The Grant Thornton spokesperson said they remained in “active discussions” with a short list of parties in order to find solutions for some Porter Davis customers.

Mr Miglani, the chief executive of Mig and Sons, earlier on Monday told 3AW he’d submitted a bid to purchase the collapsed company.

The liquidation notice on the Porter Davis website. Picture: Supplied

In offering to purchase the business, which saw 1700 properties left uncompleted and another 779 contracts signed, Mr Miglani would be helping the community across Victoria and Queensland.

“It’s a whole thing, we offered Victoria, but we can look at Queensland very closely too,” he said.

“Keeping all the jobs, keeping all the subcontractors and finishing up all the unbilled and contracts that have been signed and the work hasn't started, finishing them as well.

“I've got a huge team working behind me. There's a team of lawyers, there’s a team of auditors and we’ve got a few builders that will be working with us to very closely.

Amit Miglani is a former real estate agent turned property developer. Picture: Supplied

“Not only that, but the only person at this very moment who knows the job very well is the highest staff in Porter Davis themselves.”

He couldn’t say if the offer would cost more to people waiting on homes, as his auditors hadn’t had the chance to look at all the data.

But he said he wanted to “do something for the community” who had invested in Porter Davis and lost everything.

“It's one of the biggest assets in not only in the city, but in the whole country, and I really feel that it should be it should be saved,” Mr Miglani said.

“The community is the one who’s going to suffer at the end of the day – there’ll be a lot of losses, there’ll be a lot of life savings gone – so I just want to stand up and put the team behind me that works day and night and let’s just go out and do something for the community this time.”

Porter Davis had been forecasting revenue of $555m this financial year, according to the liquidators.

Porter Davis has yet to complete around 1700 homes, with another 779 contracts left untouched. Picture: Supplied

A previous statement from Grant Thornton detailed how tough market conditions hampered Porter Davis’ efforts to stay afloat.

“We need at least a week with the higher authorities at Porter Davis to sit down and work everything out, because there has been mistakes made,” Mr Miglani said.

“Every business comes to a point where there are mistakes made, but I think we can rectify it.”

Mr Miglani has previously been involved in legal conflicts, and was sentenced to 18 months on a Community Corrections order after being caught misusing client’s money in a previous real estate role.

He pleaded guilty to charges of misuse of a trust account and is trying to re-obtain his real estate license.