Commonwealth Bank chief kept in loop on George Calombaris strife
Matt Comyn has been briefed on the collapse of George Calombaris’s empire as CBA prepares for a potential $10m hit.
Commonwealth Bank boss Matt Comyn has been personally briefed on the collapse of celebrity chef George Calombaris’s hospitality empire as the bank prepares to take a reputational and potential $10m hit on the failed restaurant group.
This came as Calombaris, 41, emerged publicly for the first time since his 13-year-old Made Establishment empire spectacularly collapsed on February 10 under millions of dollars in debt.
Calombaris was seen on Sunday morning looking downbeat as he walked in Melbourne’s Toorak village with an unidentified man, before stopping for coffee at a local cafe.
Calombaris, who built his business and television career over the past 13 years, owns the Made group along with Melbourne millionaire Radek Sali.
The celebrity chef has now quietly listed his $5m mansion for sale in the same prestige suburb. In January he sold a holiday house he owns on the Mornington Peninsula’s Safety Beach for just over $1m, with both homes mortgaged to ANZ.
The administrator of Calombaris’s Made Establishment, corporate undertaker KordaMentha, was yesterday continuing its negotiations with potential buyers of the various closed restaurants, but with a deal yet to be struck. Calombaris repaid about $8m to staff at his restaurants after an underpayment scandal.
KordaMentha’s Craig Shepard and Leanne Chesser were hopeful at least some of Made’s 12 restaurants and food outlets could be sold before creditors of the group’s 22 collapsed companies meet in Melbourne on Thursday.
The Australian understands Mr Comyn is being kept up to date with developments in Made’s unfolding administration, with Australia’s biggest bank aware that the collapse, while not a material loss to the $160bn giant, has the potential to cause reputational damage.
Along with CBA as Made’s largest single secured creditor, the group also owes money to the Australian Taxation Office and a range of smaller suppliers of goods and services to the group. Mr Sali, who tipped in millions to keep the enterprise afloat, has also registered two of his own private companies as creditors. Mr Sali made his fortune selling his stake in the Swisse vitamins group to Chinese buyers.
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