Former NRL player's insurance group collapses owing more than $17 million
A former NRL player's insurance empire has collapsed with $17m in debts, leaving staff and creditors facing massive losses and offered a pittance in a rescue deal.
A 25-year-old national insurance group run by a former first grade NRL player is in administration with debts of more than $17m, including nearly $2m to staff.
Sydney-based Claim Central has subsidiaries in Queensland and Victoria, as well as offices in New Zealand and South Africa and was founded by former South Sydney Rabbitohs player Brian Siemsen in 2000.
Four companies in the group, which provided restoration, assessment, and repair management services for insurance companies, were placed into voluntary administration on October 14.
Tradies, suppliers, lenders and small businesses are owed millions in the collapse, with a rescue deal proposed by a related company promising them as little as 2.74c for every dollar owed.
A report from administrator Katherine Barnet, of Olvera Advisors, said the directors had blamed the group’s failure on the loss of $50m in contracts from insurance giants Hollard and Commonwealth Insurance, as well a sharp reduction in available work.
The report said rising costs, “legacy debt” and “intercompany funding pressures” had also contributed.
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Ms Barnet’s report said Claim Central had been issued default notices by the Commonwealth Bank over a loan facility that had been as high as $28m, but had been reduced to $1.5m by the time of the administration.
The bank holds first-preference security over the group’s assets.
Unsecured creditors are owed more than $4.2m, while unsecured related parties are owed $10.4m. The companies owe $113,268 in state and federal taxes.
Claim Central was directed by Mr Siemsen and Matthew Lawrence, however Mr Lawrence has resigned since the administrators were appointed.
The group’s subsidiaries include technology businesses Wilbur and Livegenic, which streamline insurance claims and facilitated live video inspections.
Mr Siemsen, also the founder and CEO of Wilbur, said the failed companies had “faced the same well-documented industry pressures as the rest of the sector — cost inflation, labour shortages, and long-tail event workloads”.
According to the administrator, Wilbur’s holding company has offered to pay $350,000 towards a deed of company arrangement, and manage collection of debts owed to the group, which would cover the administrators’ fees and see unsecured creditors paid between 2.74c and 6.74c for every dollar they’re owed.
Secured creditor CBA would receive 8.52c in the dollar under the deal, which is set to go to a creditor vote on Friday morning.
Ms Barnet’s report said the failed companies had made “various payments” to Wilbur over the past two years, which were described as fees for services.
Mr Siemsen said any payments to Wilbur “were standard arms-length commercial software licensing and service arrangements”.
“These were normal operating expenses and had no impact on the solvency issues in the property division,” he said.
“Wilbur has been separated, independently capitalised, and operating with its own governance structure for well over 18 months.”
Mr Siemsen said the group’s directors and shareholders had tipped in “several million dollars” to prop it up in recent years.
As well as the Claim Central businesses, Mr Siemsen also has a racehorse company, Black Soil Bloodstock, while he and Mr Lawrence have an equine insurance company, Furlong Insurance.
Mr Siemsen’s stakes-winning fillies include Niedorp, Miami Fleiss, The Actuary and Isotope – which he sold for $2.3m at the Magic Millions sales on the Gold Coast in 2023.
Another of his company’s horses, Skirt The Law, won the 2023 Magic Millions 2YO Classic for a syndicate that included his wife Brooke.
At its peak, Claim Central had approximately 220 employees nationally, but cost cutting meant just 21 remained when administrators were appointed.
“We’ve been in this industry for more than two decades, and over the last several years we’ve seen many longstanding, reputable companies face exactly the same pressures - cost escalation, regulatory uplift, labour shortages and contract tightening,” Mr Siemsen said.
“It’s an environment that has pushed a lot of good operators to the edge.
“My focus is on supporting staff and customers through this process, with Wilbur continuing to operate independently and without disruption.”
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Originally published as Former NRL player's insurance group collapses owing more than $17 million
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