Golf resort in the rough
Search for buyer as financial woes grow at Torquay hotel
A MAJOR resort and golf course on the Surf Coast has fallen into voluntary administration as the effects of coronavirus on business bite.
Peppers The Sands Torquay has been placed into the hands of administrators with a list of about 300 creditors, including staff.
The business, recently paid to accept returning travellers in quarantine, will continue to operate while a new buyer is sought and staff have so far kept their jobs.
But employee entitlements such as superannuation, annual holidays and sick leave have been frozen.
PKF Melbourne has been appointed voluntary administrator of Walden Cloud Group Pty Ltd, which operates Peppers The Sands Torquay including the hotel and golf operations.
PKF partner Paul Allen said it had also been appointed to entities who own the land associated with the business.
“The administrators are currently reviewing the company’s business operations,’’ he said.
“It is their intention to continue to trade the business with the view of selling all business units and assets in due course.
“The administration is in its preliminary stages and therefore the identification of the likely purchaser and sale price has not been determined as yet.”
It is believed the hotel operators were paid to use the resort as a quarantine site for returned travellers days before it went bust. An employee said staff had been paid on the Federal Government’s JobKeeper scheme while serving quarantine guests at the resort in recent weeks.
It is believed an $18 million offer was made for the resort but it was rejected before the company was placed into administration. A first meeting of creditors of the company will be held next week.
The golf courses were open on Friday and the resort’s kitchen was selling takeaway meals.
But with Melbourne residents unable to visit the region due to Stage 3 COVID-19 restrictions, business has slowed.
The hotel and golf course resort was last sold in 2017 to Cloud Abacus Holdings and Odyns Holdings, and operated through company name Walden Cloud Group.