Marawar in administration, director resigns

Noongar entrepreneur Gerry Matera says a misalignment of ethics and values is the reason he walked from Aboriginal-owned construction company Marawar WA, which is now under administration. 

The businessman says he resigned as a director of Marawar WA Pty Ltd - of which he owns 50 per cent- last year due to a conflict of values post-merger with M/Construction in 2022.

It comes as Marawar WA was placed in the hands of administrators Brett Orzel and Stephen Dixon from Hamilton Murphy Advisory late on Friday afternoon.

Established in 2018 prior to the merger, Marawar WA is understood to have more than 100 staff and is focused on delivering building and maintenance services.

The business has previosuly secured a number of government contracts, and has won awards from the likes of Supply Nation and Master Builders Association WA. 

Marawar WA was formed through the merger of MGroup's M/Construction and Marawar in 2022, which effectively created Western Australia’s largest Aboriginal-owned construction business.

It's 50-50 owned by Mr Matera and an entity named Match Pty Ltd, although Mr Matera resigned from being a director in June 2023, according to Australian Securities and Investments Commission documents.

Match is understood to be linked to MGroup, an integrated property group with several divisions led by development player Lloyd Clark. 

But Mr Matera said there had been a big misalignment with ethics and values since the merger.

He said he was no longer interested in doing business with Match, which he said ran the day-to-day business of Marawar WA.

"Ethics, values and authenticity around Aboriginal engagement is the reason I resigned as a director," Mr Matera told Business News.

"That's okay to have a misalignment; we just don't have the same values.

"A part of that obviously is that the building industry needs reform but is also coming out of a dire situation across the board. It won't be surprising to many people."

The appointment of administrators by Marawar WA Pty Ltd, trading as Marawar and MConstruction (WA), comes after related maintenance business Civil West Construction Pty Ltd entered administration in July.

Civil West Construction has the same ownership split as Marawar WA, being half owned by Mr Matera and Match.

“It is regrettable that, in recent months, both Civil West, formally known as Marawar, and now Marawar WA Pty Ltd have ended up in voluntary administration,” a Match spokesperson said.

“Whilst market conditions have been terrible for the construction industry in recent times, it appears the company has not been able to continue trading leading to the decision (on Friday).

“Only one shareholder has provided the company with financial support recently and that one-sided commitment could not continue.”

Marawar WA describes itself as a construction and maintenance service business that provides a “range of integrated design, construction and maintenance solutions for commercial and public sector clients across WA,” according to its LinkedIn.

It lists its services as bricklaying and concrete works, carpentry, design and construction projects from management to maintenance and civil works including earthworks and road construction.