Hopes Fade for Property Developer Bathla Group as Teneo Prepares for Wind-Down

Hopes for crumbling property developer Bathla Group are deteriorating fast as a crucial deadline was brought forward while some lenders took action into their own hands.

Bathla's administrator, Teneo, has said it is preparing to shut down the company by the end of the day as hopes of securing $20 million in emergency funding fade away.

The realisation came after a meeting with lenders on Monday night failed to secure the commitment needed.

Teneo senior managing director Stephen Longley told Nine's Today Show: "We'll start planning at the end of the day for the wind down of the business," and said the situation was "very dire".

"We're running out of hope for a holistic solution to finish the 45 construction projects," he said.

"We've had intensive discussions with lenders, but I don't think we're going to get enough funding in place."

Mr Longley's latest comments were more pessimistic than yesterday, when he told ABC's The Business that he remained hopeful of securing a last-minute lifeline from lenders.

He also said, at a press conference on Monday, the property firm had "no cash", but could still complete at least 45 construction projects if it received more funding.

Human cost of financial collapse

Some of Bathla's 350 staff have not been paid for eight weeks while the developer has accumulated debts exceeding $3.2 billion.

Bathla's administration has left the fate of 200 building projects across NSW in jeopardy, with about 2,000 homes under construction and another 13,000 in its development pipeline.

Some private credit lenders have taken control of individual worksites and will be responsible for delivering particular projects.

The ABC understands a 312-apartment block development in Pemulwuy in Sydney's west is going ahead after the lender, PAG, made a commitment to continue paying contractors directly.

A manufacturing contractor who provided his first name, Moqvul, said that PAG had told him not to worry and continue working on the Pemulwuy site.

Mustafa, the owner of a kitchen joinery business, told the ABC he had received a written commitment from PAG, but it did not extend to any other Bathla sites.

He was also unsure what it meant for outstanding bills that his business was owed.

"No-one is giving us any clear image of where we are heading," Mustafa said.

"We are stressed. We owe the ATO, we owe the suppliers, we owe the workers."

Another contractor, Charbel, said the situation "didn't look good" and said he had four kids and was owed "a fair bit" of money from Bathla.

Administrators had tried tapping existing lenders for extra funds and late last week asked the New South Wales government for a $20 million lifeline to keep the business afloat.

However, the state government refused to offer any bailout money.

Teneo also said it had borrowed $1 million from its own head office so Bathla Group could afford to pay for vehicle registrations, petrol and "just to keep the lights on".

Its situation has also left questions around how home buyers will be impacted, including deposits.

Mr Longley said on Monday as many as 1,000 deposits could have been paid to the developer, and that some of those may have been used.

"Some of the contracts allow the deposits to be used by the business, deposits have been used as the contracts allow," he said.