Roberts Co take over five Probuild projects saving up to $100m in potential creditor claims
Construction company Roberts Co has bought five Melbourne construction sites from the collapsed Probuild work book, saving creditors over $100m.
Boutique construction company Roberts Co has finalised the acquisition of five key Melbourne projects from the collapsed building giant Probuild, ensuring their completion and saving over $100m in potential creditor claims.
The privately-owned NSW-based company will take control of the collapsed construction giant’s SP Setia’s Uno apartment tower, the construction of CSL’s Elizabeth North headquarters and fit-out of the office tower for developer PDG – which were two separate projects – as well as ISPT’s 500 Bourke St redevelopment and Woodlink’s 502 Albert St hotel project.
Four of the projects have already seen construction restart since the appointment of the voluntary administrators Deloitte and during negotiation of the sale agreement. The other is expected to recommence shortly.
Roberts Co was founded by Multiplex developer Andrew Roberts in 2017.
The company’s chief executive Alison Mirams said the purchase doubled the size of Roberts Co and gave them a foothold in Victoria.
“We started the company in NSW five years ago. We started from a blank sheet of paper and it was always our desire to have operations in Sydney and Melbourne – they are the two powerhouses of Australian construction,” she said.
“When I started in Sydney I built the company person-by-person from nothing. Now we have picked up Victoria which was a full functioning construction operation and which has been a very good business but got caught up in the insolvency.”
Ms Mirams said they there was the possibility of adding more Probuild projects to Roberts Co and they were in negotiations with the Golden Age Group to take over the construction of an office tower at 130 Little Collins St in Melbourne and there was also another building site on the radar.
She said they were also working with Deloitte on defect work with other projects.
Ms Mirams said they also have two tenders “on the go” in Victoria for institutional clients and they were in talks about further projects.
“The opportunity down there is to turn the business onto government work as well,” she said.
“In Victoria they don’t really have government work while in NSW 80 per cent of our work is government.
“So there’s an opportunity to look at health, education, justice, the arts and work for the Victorian Government.”
Roberts Co has also moved into one level of Probuild’s former Melbourne head office 580 St Kilda Rd.
The deal was struck by the Deloitte Turnaround & Restructuring team Sal Algeri, Jason Tracy, Matt Donnelly and David Orr who were appointed administrators in February on 18 WBHO Australia Group companies after its South African parent Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon pulled the pin on further financial help.
The Roberts Co settlement comes a week after the sale of WBHO Infrastructure‘s WA operations to ASX-listed SRG Global for $15.2m which was “overwhelmingly supported by creditors”.
Mr Tracy said the cash terms of the Roberts Co transactions remained confidential.
“It’s the proverbial win-win outcome that has been a key focus since our appointment as Administrators only five weeks ago,” he said.
“While numbers are to be finalised and reported to creditors at a later date, the agreement with Roberts Co saves over a $100 million of potential creditor claims, and also avoids substantial liquated damages risks from ongoing project delays.
“Over 150 people will keep their jobs, with their accumulated entitlements preserved and potential redundancy costs avoided. And importantly, more than 150 subcontractors and consultants will be paid valid arrears and be able to get their people and equipment back to work immediately.”
Mr Tracy said the deal transpired through the co-operation of Probuild and Monaco Hickey leadership team and employees, unions, clients, subcontractors and the Victorian Building Authority.
“This sector is probably one of the hardest to keep the various stakeholders together, given the tension that exists between different parties in the supply change,” he said.
“To get a transaction in a period of five to six weeks is an incredible result.”
Mr Tracy said they were working with stakeholders on other Probuild projects such as 443 Queen St in Brisbane, the Victorian University and Curtin University in WA to finish construction.
He said since being appointed the team has been focused on preserving value and thesuccessful sale of the businesses.
“We have pretty much got through phase one and we’ll move into investigation, reporting to creditors and managing this longer tail, defect liability and completion matters,” he said.
Mr Tracy said they were a long way off finalising what is owned to creditors but “it was a very big number” that does not include the downstream impact on contractors.
“But if we keep these projects going, not only do we save jobs of Probuild employees but also those contractors,” he said.
“Failing to do this can end up creating a domino effect through the sector and that is something we are very aware of.”
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