A year after Consolidated Constructions was placed into administration more than 1,000 creditors are still waiting to learn the size of their returns as claims against the failed builder approach $27 million.
A year after Consolidated Constructions was placed into administration more than 1,000 creditors are still waiting to learn the size of their returns as claims against the failed builder approach $27 million.
Creditors are expected to get just 18 cents in the dollar, although secured creditor the ANZ bank has received its $5.4 million in full.
Adding a twist to the story, Consolidated founder Vince Yovich died just before the one-year anniversary of the company being placed into administration.
One of the businesses to suffer after Consolidated’s March 2 2004 collapse – Carr Civil Contracting – has made it back to financial health thanks largely to understanding creditors.
Consolidated liquidator Gary Anderson said all of the company’s fixed assets, such as land and equipment, had been realised and he was now in the process of recovering funds from the contracts the company was working on when it went into administration.
One of those contracts is the RAC building on Wellington Street, a job being completed by Multiplex.
“In addition we have a number of claims from creditors that need some scrutiny. A number of those claims will be rejected,” Mr Anderson said.
There is also the wait to see if any warranty claims will come in from jobs Consolidated had completed. Some of those warranty periods are coming to an end.
When Consolidated went into administration two subcontractors on major jobs it was doing for the WA Government were placed in financial difficulty.
Those jobs were the $7.6 million upgrade of the Port Hedland-to-Marble Bar road and the $13.2 million contract to upgrade and conduct infrastructure works on the Armadale and Gosnells railway stations.
Karratha-based Carr Civil Contracting did most of the work on the Marble Bar road contract and was left with a debt of $1.6 million when Consolidated went into administration.
Unfortunately for Carr, it also became involved in a $1 million dispute with Decmil, a company it was subcontracting to on a major dam project for the Water Corporation, around the same time.
Carr was forced into voluntary administration but was able to strike a deed of company arrangement with its creditors, who were owed about $4.6 million, and begin trading again.
Part of that deed involved the creation of a creditors’ trust to take the proceeds of any recoveries from the Consolidated and Decmil jobs.
Creditors are likely to get a return of just 15 cents in the dollar.
Carr director Mark Blaney said: “The main thing was the creditors worked on the adage that they had more to gain from trading with us in the future than by closing us up”.
The story was not so rosy for Day Contractors, the main subcontractor on the railway stations contract. It was owed more than $570,000 when Consolidated collapsed.
According to Australian Securities and Investments Commission records, Taylor Woodings partners Ian Francis and Michael Ryan were appointed as liquidators on
April 5 2004.
