Sydney pub baron Jon Adgemis seeks extension for $1m creditors’ deadline after partial payment

Jon Adgemis has handed over just $100,000 of $600,000 owed to administrators by a May deadline 1, further delaying an agreement to pay his former hospitality staff.

Ex-banker Jon Adgemis. Picture: David Swift

Sydney pub baron Jon Adgemis is already on his second lifeline as part of a debt rescue deal negotiated for his troubled hospitality business, after he managed only a partial instalment payment on money owed to former bartenders and property managers.

A spokesman for Mr Adgemis confirmed the pubs baron, who at his peak owned and operated 22 venues across Sydney and Melbourne, had paid administrators on Tuesday ahead of a Wednesday deadline.

But Mr Adgemis has failed to pay the $600,000 due by May 1, having paid the $400,000 he was required to pay under the first instalment due in February.

A spokesman said that “50 per cent of the cash component sits with the administrator”.

That means Mr Adgemis contributed $100,000 leaving a further $500,000 owed to creditors as part of the $1m promised in a bid to settle debts owed to former employees.

The $1m represents two of three tranches he agreed to; the third being a $6.7m payment due by September.

Mr Adgemis’ spokesman said the pubs baron was now engaging with administrator BDO over the outstanding balance. “We are currently in the process of agreeing to a short extension for the balance,” he said.

BDO confirmed discussions were ongoing.

The former KPMG deal-maker is proceeding with renovations to five venues he owns.

Mr Adgemis’ Bondi backpackers venue is a cornerstone of a turnaround plan aimed at delivering a windfall return.

One of Mr Adgemis’ funders, GEMI Investments, has told investors nearly 14 per cent of its loan book is locked up in projects under his control, cautioning they were unlikely to be recovered until the second quarter of 2026.

GEMI was originally a lender to the properties representing the broader empire, but has been refinanced out of others as the protracted rescue deal drags on.

Jon Adgemis and former fiancee Megan MacKenzie.

Under the terms of a deed of company arrangement struck last year, Mr Adgemis agreed to pay $6.7m, funded by a convertible note from Archibald Capital, as the third and final instalment owed to staff.

But Mr Adgemis’ other lenders have been keeping a tight leash on his financial lifeline. McGrathNicol is overseeing the financial management and trading cashflow for the pubs under renovation.

McGrathNicol partner Jonathan Henry was appointed by lenders Deutsche Bank and GEMI as part of a $400m refinancing agreed to in May last year.

Under the deal, the lenders set aside $30m to fund the completion of the renovation work, but to access the cash Mr Adgemis must seek approval from McGrathNicol and a quantity surveyor.

This requires Mr Adgemis to validate all work done at the properties. Other terms imposed include ensuring invoices supplied to lenders are certified before any payment is made, sources said.

Mr Adgemis borrowed heavily against his pubs empire with many assets lent against at an “as complete” valuation.

Several lenders are now engaged in legal tangles with Mr Adgemis, seeking to sue him or enforce loans over his properties, or homes associated with his mother.

McGrathNicol advised Deutsche Bank and American lender Muzinich amid concerns late last year over the future of the hospitality business.

The Saint Hotel at 54 Fitzroy Street in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda.

Muzinich, which held more than $100m in debt tied to Public Hospitality Group, appointed FTI Consulting to take over five of Mr Adgemis’ pubs in September last year.

The fate of several pubs controlled by Mr Adgemis is unclear, as a trio of venues in Melbourne are either vacant or facing an apparent uncertain future.

This includes the Saint Hotel in Melbourne’s St Kilda, the Clifton in Kew, and the Vine in Collingwood which is an unfinished building site.

Mr Adgemis previously explored offloading his Melbourne pubs.

The empire was assembled during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic as part of a spending spree backed by key investors, including Melbourne billionaire Alex Waislitz, who ploughed more than $40m into the business.

Mr Adgemis touted plans to list the pubs group on the ASX after bringing in former Crown boss Peter Crinis to advise and lead the hospitality and hotel operations.

But the financial squeeze on the business, revealed by administrators to be insolvent from 2021 to 2023, crushed much of Mr Adgemis’ ambitions.

Mr Crinis left the group, and Mr Adgemis recently transferred much of the daily operations of the venues to Linchpin Hospitality Group, backed by Melbourne figures Terry Soukoulis and George Calombaris.

Originally published as Sydney pub baron Jon Adgemis seeks extension for $1m creditors’ deadline after partial payment