Real estate group will fight on over fee

Prestige real estate group, The Agency, has managed to stall an administration action brought by disgruntled creditor Mitchell Atkins.

The Federal Court has scheduled a hearing on the morning of February 1 to allow secured or unsecured creditors to come forward.

Prestige real estate group, The Agency, has managed to stall an administration action brought by disgruntled creditor Mitchell Atkins of Magnolia Capital over a disputed fee of just $385,000.

Magnolia Capital, which has previously bid for shares in The Agency, called in BDO as voluntary administrators over parts of The Agency earlier this week, saying it had made repeated demands for payment of the debt.

“Magnolia has lost confidence in the board and the unknown financial position of (The Agency Group). As such, BDO has been appointed as voluntary administrator over AU1 only, not over any subsidiaries,” Magnolia said.

The appointment would allow for an independent review of The Agency Group without disrupting the trading businesses, Magnolia said.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Federal Court ordered that the administration will stay in place until February 1 but control of The Agency continued to rest with its directors. The court asked for The Agency to transfer $400,000 into a bank account to prove its business was solvent and to cover Magnolia’s claim.

The Agency said the “the purported appointment was based on an alleged and disputed ‘debt’ of approximately $385,000 which relates to alleged fees on a mandate entered into for the purpose of securing debt funding where MCL 105 Pty Ltd (Magnolia) was unable to deliver any funding at all.’’

The Federal Court has scheduled a hearing on the morning of February 1 to allow secured or unsecured creditors to come forward.

The Agency said the appointment of administrators was “a misguided attempt to destabilise the Agency and compel the company to pay a disputed fee. The Agency is in a strong financial position and the recent AGM results demonstrate the overwhelming support for the board’s strategy to continue to drive shareholder value.”

The Agency will soon release its half yearly unaudited accounts “which will show record numbers across key financial metrics”.

In a statement Mr Atkins said: “This is yet another example of mismanagement of The Agency Group by its directors.”