{"id":588287,"date":"2026-09-02T20:38:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T20:38:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/588287\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T20:38:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T20:38:23","slug":"never-seen-anything-like-it-collapse-of-sydney-construction-company-bathla-could-cause-20-billion-hit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/588287\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Never seen anything like it\u2019: Collapse of Sydney construction company Bathla could cause $20 billion hit"},"content":{"rendered":"

The potential liquidation of a Sydney<\/a> construction company could be one of the biggest in Australian<\/a> history, a debt recovery expert has said, as tradies and buyers face being left thousands out of pocket.<\/p>\n

Bathla, a construction group that focused on building affordable homes and apartment complex\u2019s in Western Sydney, went into administration last week, holding debts of up to $3.6 billion.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Bathla Group is on the cusp of being wound up.\u00a0Brent Lewin<\/p>\n

Administrators of the company have warned they could struggle to keep paying the company\u2019s 350 staff – some of whom haven\u2019t been paid in two months – admitting there may be no choice but to close the business.<\/p>\n

Larry Kaine, managing partner at Corporate Recovery Partners, says the administration of Bathla is \u201cunprecedented\u201d in its size, warning the ripple effect could be significant.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe magnitude of this administration is just so damn big. I mean, I\u2019ve never seen anything like it,\u201d he told nine.com.au.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t think we’ve had a collapse of this size, not just in dollar value\u2026 but the magnitude of this one where it’s so many projects, there’s so many lenders.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is will be Australia’s biggest administration, from what we have seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaine\u2019s company is organising a committee of inspection (COI), with expressions of interests being opened to unsecured creditors who could be adversely impacted by Bathla\u2019s collapse.<\/p>\n

Unsecured creditors could be tradies, subcontractors, consultants and homeowners, who are lower in the pecking order in terms of receiving compensation in the event of a business going into administration.<\/p>\n

Kaine warns there could be thousands of people in this position, and that if Bathla is eventually liquidated, they will have little chance of recovering their lost money.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Bathla\u2019s administration and potential collapse could have catastrophic impacts.\u00a0Bathla<\/p>\n

\u201cA humble tradesman who’s owed $100,000 or a $1 million is essentially going to find himself into a position of insolvency in the knock on [period of] six to 12 to 24 months,\u201d he claimed.<\/p>\n

He cites a similar case from the UK, when Carillion, the second-largest construction firm in the country at the time, collapsed in 2018.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Bathla\u2019s collapse could cause a $20 billion hit to the NSW economy.\u00a0Sitthixay Ditthavong<\/p>\n

The collapse left about 30,000 suppliers and small businesses owed more than \u00a31 billion ($1.8 billion in 2026), which causing significant disruption and redundancies in the UK.<\/p>\n

Bathla\u2019s potential collapse could have a similar impact in Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe knock on effect is probably and conservatively going to be $20 billion on the broader New South Wales construction sector,\u201d Kaine said, adding that would lead to \u201ca $20 billion impact\u201d on the New South Wales economy.<\/p>\n

He said it could also cause problems across other parts of Australia, as tighter restrictions would make it harder for building projects to progress.<\/p>\n

The best outcome for unsecured creditors, Kaine said, is for a deed of company arrangement (DOCA) to be made; this is an arrangement between a company and its creditors \u2013 including unsecured creditors \u2013 that binds them together, and increases the chances of the business being able to continue operation, or of creditors being able to recoup some of their assets.<\/p>\n

Despite this, Kaine, whose business specialises in assisting creditors who have been impacted by closures in the construction industry, said Bathla\u2019s collapse reflects the state of the sector in Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s really grim,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cConstruction insolvencies are at all time highs\u2026 delinquencies or payment arrears, overdue days, that’s on the up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Administrator Teneo is attempting to negotiate a short-term funding arrangement that would allow staff to be paid wages they are owed.<\/p>\n

The deadline for a rescue deal to be struck was extended by 24 hours to Thursday morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The potential liquidation of a Sydney construction company could be one of the biggest in Australian history, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":588288,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[138,219,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-588287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}